The Legend of the Solar Whip
by Wildfire2
Summary: Ryo's getting beat, and Sage is getting annoyed from some new girl. What well happen?
1. Default Chapter

This is a disclaimer, I do not own the Ronin warriors. Never have never will. This story is on a slight break but feel free to read and review anyway.


	2. Chapter 1

"The Legend of the Solar Whip"

By Wildfire

Chapter One

Sage sat in his dojo as Kento paced in front of him. Rowen sat in a corner, and Cye leaned against a wall. "Okay, let's just go! We're going to miss the MOVIE!" Kento said in an angry voice. 

Cye looked at his watch. "We should give him five more minutes," Cye sighed.

"Why? He's not coming! This is the third time he has done this in a WEEK," Rowen said, looking up.

Sage looked up at Rowen. "Yeah, it's the third time, and he'll probably give us no reason of why he didn't show up."

"He never does!" Kento said as he stopped pacing and sat down. "All he says is 'Something just came up! Okay!' and then he just walks away!" Kento paused for a second. "You think he got a girlfriend?"

"I don't think so. I mean, if he got a girlfriend he'd tell us. And we'd probably never shut him up about it. No, this is something else." Rowen looked at Kento. "Maybe it's the Dynasty?"

"I doubt that. If the Dynasty was back he may try to keep it from us for a while, but not this long," Cye said, standing up. "Let's go! We've given him plenty of time." They nodded, then walked out the door.

&&&&&&

:Two weeks later:

&&&&&&

Kento and Cye walked into a crowed lunchroom. Kento looked around and saw Sage and Rowen already eating their lunches. Cye and Kento got in the lunch line.

"Man, I thought that History class would never end!" Kento said as he grabbed a tray.

Cye laughed, "Yeah, well, looks to me like someone has a crush on you!" Cye said as he pointed to a girl that had short black hair and brown eyes; she was a little heavy but not bad. The girl was still staring at Kento.

"Go figure! A girl that likes me and not Sage." Kento shook his head and laughed. Cye's eyes narrowed. Kento turned around to see who he was looking at. Ryo walked through the doors with the rest of the soccer team behind him. "JERK," Kento spat.

Ryo glances at them as he walks past, eyes narrowing.

"I don't know what happened to him! He used to be the coolest person I knew. Now it's like he... I don't think he would even care if the Dynasty attacked!" Cye said as he paid for the food.

"Oh, sure he would! I'm sure he'd love to go and become King of the Dynasty!" Kento started to walk towards the table. Cye rolled his eyes. Kento and Cye sat down; Sage looked up.

"Hey, Cye, do you have the homework assignment for Biology? I missed it," Sage said and took a bite of his apple.

"What, were the girls distracting you?" Cye said, and Sage blushed.

"Hey, did you guys hear that Ryo's going to quit soccer?" Rowen asked.

"No way! His life is soccer!" Kento said.

"It's true! Suey told me she was there when Ryo told the coach that this would be the last game he'd play," Cye said. "I guess everyone on his team is trying to make him change his mind."

"That makes no sense!" Kento said, plowing some more food in his mouth.

"You know what? I don't care. He can do whatever he wants, just as long as he stays away from me!" Sage said, then got up and threw away his remaining food and walked away.

"Damn! He always gets so mad when we talk about him." Kento didn't need to say who the 'him' was, they all knew.

&&&&&&

Ryo walked home slowly; his whole body hurt. He hadn't really played in the soccer game; in the beginning of the game he pretended he hurt his ankle and he sat out the rest of the game. The truth was his ankle was hurt, but not by soccer. Ryo looked at the house that was supposedly his 'home'. He shook his head; no, this was not his home, homes don't make you lose the best friends you ever had, homes don't make you quit at something you love more than anything. NO, this was not a home, it was just a lousy house! A house that he hated.

Ryo walked through the door as quietly as possible; he could see his foster mom asleep on the couch and there were a couple of beer cans laying around the couch. That was normal, but what scared him is he didn't see her boyfriend. That guy was always around, and for Ryo not to see him right away scared him. It meant that something was up, and he didn't want to be around to find out what. Ryo turned back around to leave, but right as he reached the door he heard two footsteps.

"Going somewhere? And without even saying hi." Ryo turned around to see Alen, his foster mom's boyfriend. "How rude! Maybe we should send you to that orphanage. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Ahh, but honey, if we send him to that orphanage who would I practice my whip on?" Ryo whirled around to see that his foster mom had woken up. She went and stood next to Alen.

Man, they were a couple. Alen was a big man, he had quite a bit of muscle; Ryo also knew that he was great with a gun. He could probably shoot a bug off a moving truck. His foster mom on the other hand had ratty hair that Ryo guessed she hadn't brushed in her whole life. She was a short woman, and if you asked Ryo she had to be the ugliest woman he ever saw. He never got why Alen went for her. Not that he cared, anyway, cause as far as he cared they were both ugly.

His foster mom got closer to him. "You're going to be a good boy, right?" she asked. Ryo didn't respond, His foster mom's smile faded and she slapped him across the face. "Must we go through this AGAIN!" Ryo still remained silent. He would not give them the pleasure of his response.

"I guess that's a yes," Alen said, then grabbed Ryo and pushed him against the wall. "Take the position!" Ryo didn't move. Alen grumbled, then ripped Ryos' shirt off, revealing the many whip marks, bruises and cuts. He then put his arms on the wall. Ryo could hear movement and he just waited for the stinging blow. He heard Alen laugh, then a second later, he felt the sting of the whip as it made contact with his back. Ryo ground his teeth as more blows came one right after another. Ryo clenched his fists and slammed his eyes shut as his foster mom continued to torture him without mercy.

Ryo soon couldn't stand it and he started to cry out. This just made them laugh at him; tears ran from Ryo's eyes freely. Finally Ryo just couldn't stand up anymore, he fell to the ground.

Alen came over, grabbed his hair and hauled him back to his feet. "Stand straight, boy." Ryo tried to stand up straight but his back just hurt too much; Ryo fell again. Alen frowned and he pushed Ryo up against the wall and held him there. He started to dig his right elbow into Ryo's neck, then he took his left hand and started to scrape Ryo's already sore back with his nails. Ryo screamed in pain and tried to get away.

"Ahh, let him go!" Alen looked at Ryo's foster mom. He then looked back at Ryo who was trembling and crying. He scraped his nails into him one more time then threw him to the ground.

"No one has ever loved you! In fact, they all killed themselves just to get away from you! Or did you kill them? You're nothing! Just a spoiled BRAT! That gets more caring than he should ever have! ...Get out of my sight! I don't want to see your ugly face staring at me anymore."

Ryo scrambled up the stairs, and into his room. He feel to the ground in pain and anger! Oh how he wanted to just kill them both! But he hated the thought of being sent to an orphanage! But was this worse? He thought back to the days in the orphanage; he knew that some orphanages weren't bad, but the one he was in was. No love, only yelling and screaming. He had just lost his grandma when he was sent there, the last person he could honestly call family. No one cared what it felt like, only what they wanted. No, he would never go back to an orphanage.

Ryo crawled over to his backpack. He pulled out a small, half-empty bag of chips. That was all he had anymore, a small bag of chips a day, half at lunch, half at night. Ryo felt the sticky red fluid running down his back. He knew his back was bleeding, but at the moment he didn't care. A tear ran down his face; it wasn't fair! He was always hungry, and in pain! It just wasn't fair!

&&&&&&

Sage sat on the living room couch, watching TV. For the past hour he had had this uneasy feeling that something wasn't right. He had been getting that feeling a lot lately. Sage jumped when his dad came bursting through the front door. "Sage, where's your mom?"

"Upstairs, she's folding laundry," Sage responded. Sage watched as he dad hurried up the stairs. Wonder what's up with him? Sage thought to himself, then just shrugged his shoulders and went back to the TV. The uneasy feeling he had was starting to fade.

Sage watched a couple of shows. He was about to turn off the TV and head upstairs when his dad came downstairs. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

Ah. Oh, this can't be good. Wonder what I did this time? Sage sighed. "Sure, what's up?"

"Sage, what would you think if I had someone come and live with us for a while?" Sage's dad looked serious.

" 'Someone'? Who is someone? Is it male or female? Why do they need to stay here?" Sage asked his dad, being just as serious. This wasn't the first time his dad wanted someone to stay with them for a while. Every time someone came it ended in a big mess, and Sage usually got the worst of it.

"It's a girl; she's the same age as you. Someone found her in the woods and she has no clue who she is. All she knows is that her name is Chessica. I don't want to put her in an orphanage, not until we can find out something about her. And to tell you the truth, I don't really like dealing with Child Welfare anyway. They're a pain! So, how 'bout it?"

Sage sighed again. "All right! When will she be coming?"

"In about two weeks; they want to keep her at the police station for a while and make sure no one's after her. After all, she woke up with a pretty big bruise on her face."

Sage nodded his head. "What's she look like?" Sage said with a sly grin on his face. His father smiled and shook his head; Sage's father reached up and ruffled Sage's hair a little. Sage moved back a little. "HEY, not the hair." Sage and his father started laughing.

&&&&&&

Three days later

&&&&&&

It was about ten at night. Ryo sat in a park next to a tree, holding his side. Ryo moved his hand a little so he could see the wound; his hand was covered in blood. Ryo grimaced, then put his hand back on the wound. He tried to sit up straighter and wished he hadn't, as his back started burning. He was always in pain now; she beat him every night. And every night it got worse, tonight was worse then anything he could have imagined.

It started with a normal whipping, then went to Alen scraping and tearing up his back. At that moment Ryo just couldn't take it anymore, he had fought back in anger. Alen pulled out a knife; he had slashed Ryo up his thigh. Ryo tried to get the knife out of Alen's hands, but he was too panicked to think right.

Alen had grabbed Ryo's wrist and twisted it behind his back. Ryo had screamed as he felt his wrist bone breaking. Ryo had tried to get away, but Alen threw the knife at Ryo and it slashed Ryo's side, making a deep gash in it. Ryo had run as fast as he could out the door. And he now found himself in the park, looking at his wounds.

Ryo sighed again, then felt a wet nose nudge him in the face. Ryo looked at the tiger. "What am I gonna do, White Blaze? I can't go back! I thought about hiding in the woods till I'm eighteen, but now I need medical help! What if they put me in an orphanage? I don't think I could handle it".

White Blaze roared softly and Ryo put his head on the tiger's neck. White Blaze roared again. "I know what you want me to do, boy. But how would I avoid Sage? And what if the guys are over? Then I'd never be able to avoid them." White Blaze brushed his head on Ryo's side, making him sit up. "What, you want me to tell them? No, I couldn't tell them, not that. It... I... they..." He looked down. Ryo's eyes started to close. White Blaze roared at him again; Ryo jumped a little, then looked at White Blaze. "All right, I'll talk to Mr. Date, but that's it!"

Ryo slowly stood up, using White Blaze as a brace. It was hard to move his leg, and his side and back burned. His right arm was just numb. White Blaze crouched to the ground so Ryo could get on him easier; Ryo lifted his injured leg first. As soon as Ryo sat down, White Blaze got up slowly. White Blaze started walking slowly towards Sage's house; he wasn't going to risk the chance of Ryo falling off.

In about ten minutes, they were there. White Blaze laid on the ground again so Ryo could get off. Ryo hobbled to the door and rang the doorbell; no answer. He figured Sage's mom was at work since she was a doctor, and his grandfather probably went to BINGO, which meant everyone was in the dojo.

Ryo sighed and hobbled to the dojo, in the back. Ryo made himself walk straight and upright as he walked through the door. He heard Rowen's voice, whic meant the other guys were there as well. Ryo cursed to himself; there was no way he could get past them without one of them noticing. Oh well, it was none of their business any way. He tried to walk past the door as fast as possible. But it wasn't fast enough.

"RYO!" Cye shouted as he saw Ryo walk past. Sage and Kento stopped sparring. Ryo closed his eyes, waiting for Sage to kill him. Ryo tried to again stand up straighter. They knew he never slouched.

"WHAT! What are YOU doing in my house!" Sage yelled.

Ryo looked at him. "Your house is over there!" Ryo said, pointing with the arm he could use. "This dojo belongs to your parents! Why I'm here doesn't concern you!"

"You're not welcome here! Get out!" Sage said, pointing to the door, stalking closer to their old leader.

"I'll be gone soon enough! I just need to talk to your father!" He turned to walk off again.

"My FATHER is busy!" Sage said, taking another step forward.

Ryo calmed himself down; he couldn't keep standing like this much longer, he was starting to feel light-headed. "I just need to ask him a simple question and then I'll be gone! I'm guessing he's in his office?"

Sage gritted his teeth. "He's busy!"

"Thanks," Ryo said and continued walking. Sage started to go after him, but Kento stopped him.

"He's not worth it. Come on, let's not let him destroy this night. It was supposed to be fun!" Kento said, and Sage nodded

Ryo could hear them talking back there; his leg was stiff and felt like it was burning up. Ryo kept himself under control and knocked on the door; he heard Mr. Date say 'come in'. And he stepped through the door.

"What can I... Ryo? What are you doing here?" Mr. Date said, looking up. He had been doing paper work, a mass murder was on the loose and they hadn't a clue where he was, good news was he hadn't attacked in a while.

Ryo swallowed. "Sir? Ah, I was wondering if... you could help me."

Sage's dad looked at him. "I'll do my best; what do you need?"

"Your word." He paused studying him "Your word that you'll do everything in your power to keep me out of an orphanage." Ryo looked in the older man's eyes. "Otherwise I'll just leave, and you can forget I was ever here."

Mr. Date, seeing that something was wrong, nodded and said, "I will do what ever I can, but Ryo, you must understand I have little power over Child Welfare."

"But you will try?"

"I will do my best; what can I do for you?" he asked.

Ryo turned towards the door; at first Mr. Date thought he was going to leave, but then Ryo awkwardly removed his shirt with one hand.

Mr. Date gasped as he saw Ryo's back. It reminded him of raw meat. Mr. Date slowly touched Ryo's back; Ryo's muscles tensed but didn't move. Mr. Date frowned at this, he then noticed the deep gash in Ryo's side. He swallowed hard around his own desire to be sick. Who could do this to a child?

"Shit! Ryo, Who did this?" Then a thought crossed his mind; he turned Ryo around so he could see his eyes. "Ryo... they didn't do anything... else, did they?"

"No, nothing like that! I would rather die then let her do that!It's my foster family... My ankle's swollen, and I have a gash on my thigh, and I can't move my right arm. But other than that I'm okay."

"OTHER THAN THAT! Ryo, you're beat from head to toe!" Mr. Date grabbed his handkerchief and put it against the wound on Ryo's side, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Please keep your voice down, I don't want the guys to know."

"Is that why you guys stopped being friends! Ryo, they can help you, why didn't you tell them?" Mr. Date sighed and put a little more pressure on Ryo's side. "What's your address, Ryo?"

"What? Why?"

"Well, I need to arrest her! Was there anybody else?" Mr. Date asked

"Her boyfriend was ten times worse than her he enjoyed to watch pain, I'm sure he'll be there too. 4842 Angle Street..."

"All right." Mr. Date let go of the handkerchief and picked up the phone, dialed some numbers, then waited a second. "Yes, I need you to take a couple officers down to 4842 Angle Street. I need you to arrest two people, a..."

"Molly Kerfer, and Alen Beky. I think."

"Goes by the names Molly Kerfer, and Alen Beky. Being arrested for child abuse." Mr. Date looked at Ryo. "Lots of child abuse. I also need an officer and paramedic to come down here, NOW. Make sure the paramedic has all his supplies, he'll need it. ...Yes, the officer is to take notes, and his comments... all right, hurry up, I want those two arrested now." Mr. Date hung up the phon.

"Thanks, ah, I guess I should be going." Ryo started to stand up

"You sit that butt back down! There's an officer coming to question you and a paramedic to clean you up some! AND don't you even think about leaving after that either; you're staying in the guest room!" Mr. Date said and gestured towards the house. He then looked at Ryo. "When was the last time you ate a good meal? You look starved."

"Ahh... good meal? I don't have much of an appetite anymore," Ryo said, looking down.

"That long, huh? Why don't you just rest for a while, I'll go in and get you some good food. What do you want?" Mr. Date asked, and Ryo looked up.

"Whatever you have will do. It doesn't matter." Ryo kept his head down.

"Okay, I'll be right back" Mr. Date started to walk towards the door. "Don't you move! And put your shirt on. And keep some pressure on the wound! I don't want you bleeding to death!" Mr. Date walked out the door and Ryo slowly slipped the shirt over his head.

A few minutes after Mr. Date left, Sage came barging in. Rowen, Cye, and Kento came after him. "I want answers why are you here! And why did I hear my dad yell 'SHIT'? And then he yelled, what was it, oh yeah, 'other than that'. Why was he yelling, what's going on?"

"It's none of your business!" Ryo looked down. "Just... just leave me alone!" Ryo turned his head away from them.

"Now..." Kento grabbed Sage's shoulder. Sage looked at Kento; Kento was shaking his head.

A couple of seconds later, Ryo heard the door shut. He looked back to see that no one was there. Mr. Date walked back in a bit later with a plate. Ryo looked at the plate; it was nothing fancy, just a sandwich and some chips. But to Ryo, it looked great. Mr. Date handed him the plate. Ryo took it; he had a little problem eating since he was right-handed and he couldn't use his right arm.

"Mr. Date? Ahh, I'd rather not stay here." Mr. Date looked at Ryo and sighed.

"Where do you want to stay, Ryo?" Ryo looked down at his half-eaten food. "I don't know. I'd just rather not stay here."

"You really should tell them. I'm sure they'd forgive you for... whatever you did." Mr. Date put a hand on Ryo's shoulder

"That's the thing! I don't want them to be my friends again out of PITY, to feel like they should be. I want them to be my friends cause they want to be, and that's all," Ryo said, then picked up a chip. He started to eat it, but then put it back down. Mr. Date nodded his head.

&&&&&&

Sage and Kento were sparring in the dojo. Sage was fighting like crazy; Kento was just blocking, hoping to stay alive. "Sage, you're GONNA kill me!" Kento yelled as he ducked under Sage's blow.

"THAT JERK, thinks HE CAN JUST COME IN HERE! LIKE EVERYTHING IS STILL FINE!" Sage swiped under Kento's legs, then did a high kick. Kento jumped backwards, eyes wide.

"Calm down! MAN, you're going to take my HEAD off! Jeeze, what did he do, anyway! I mean, we were all really mad at him for ditching us so many times, but you weren't until one day, and then you were just STEAMED, to say the least. What happened!"

Sage charged Kento "He's a JERK, that's what happened! HE SAID HE'D BE THERE!" Kento stopped fighting. "Be where?" he asked, confused.

Sage leaned on his knees breathing hard. "I had a meeting with this kendo instructor, I was supposed to bring someone else along so they could see me fight! Ryo said he'd come... he didn't! I lost it, it was for a full scholarship to any college that'd accept me! I also would've gotten to be this kendo champion thing and would have gotten a job and money! But since he didn't show up some other guy got it! I mean, you should have seen this guy! MY little sister could've beaten him blindfolded. HELL, Kento, your little sister could've beaten him! IT WAS MINE! But he didn't show up, SO now I have to find another way to get through college! It's not fair!" Sage yelled and threw his weapon down.

"Damn, never thought Ryo would do that! Did you ask him why he didn't come?" Kento asked. Rowen and Cye both stood up.

"Yeah, and he said 'Something came up!' That's all he ever says! Then he walked away! LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!" Sage was about to keep going when he heard the dojo door open; a second later a police officer and a paramedic came rushing past them.

Ryo sat in a chair as Mr. Date tried to get his side to stop bleeding; so far he wasn't having much luck. Ryo was starting to feel quite dizzy, and his face kept getting whiter and whiter. Mr. Date looked at Ryo, who was starting to shake. Mr. Date put a hand on his forehead; he sighed, "Ryo, how you feeling?" with concern in his voice. Ryo looked at Mr. Date; his eyelids were heavy. He hoped that the guys didn't come in now, he would never be able to hide his pain.

Ryo swallowed. "Pain," he said in a weak voice, then looked back down Mr. Date nodded and half-smiled.

"I was wondering when you would admit it. When you get better you'll have to tell me how to hide pain like that." A knock came at the door. Ryo prayed it wasn't the guys. Mr. Date looked at Ryo, then looked at the door. "Who is it?"

"Sir? It's Deb. Moree. You called for us?" came the voice through the door.

Mr. Date sighed, "Come in." The door opened and in walked two men; one was wearing a cop outfit. The other was wearing plain white and carrying a bag.

The man in white walked up to Ryo and knelt down in front of him. "So you're Ryo, huh?" The man looked in to Ryo's eyes and shook his head; he turned to Mr. Date. "His eyes are dilated." He turned back to Ryo. "I'm Tony; can you tell me where it hurts the most?" Mr. Date watched as Tony checked Ryo out. After a couple of minutes Tony stood up and walked over to Mr. Date. "I wanna take him to the hospital. Now don't get me wrong, he should be just fine, BUT he has lost a lot of blood. I'd rather be safe." Mr Date nodded.

"Sir, should I question him now or tomorrow?" the officer said, looking at Ryo; his face was extremely pale.

"No, we'll do it tomorrow." Mr. Date knelt down next to Ryo. "Ryo, we're going to take you to the hospital. You've lost a lot of blood and it looks like you're going to need to be stitched up. Okay?" Ryo nodded weakly. Mr. Date gently brushed Ryo's hair away from his face. He hated to see things like this; out of all the people he had to deal with on his job, people who hurt kids were by far the hardest. Mr. Date stood up and faced the other cop. "Moree, I want you to go and make sure those two PEOPLE were arrested and locked up! Doctor Tony, could you get Ryo ready? I'll go get the car ready!" The two other men nodded; Moree walked out the door and Mr. Date followed. Mr. Date walked quickly to the car; he was about to walk outside but then he heard Sage and what sounded like Kento sparring. He turned back around and walked into the room they were sparring in. "Hey, boys, having fun?" Sage and Kento stopped sparring.

"Dad? What's up?" Sage asked.

"Sage, I'm going to be going out for a while, I don't know when I'll be back. Do you want me to get you anything?" Mr. Date asked.

"No, we're cool. Dad, where are you going?" Sage asked, figuring it had something to do with Ryo.

"Just going out. Okay, well, I'll be back as soon as possible." Mr. Date turned to the other boys. "You boys feel free to help yourselves to anything you want. And Kento, do try to leave us a little food," Mr. Date said with a smile on his face. Kento put on a sheepish grin. Mr. Date walked out the door.

Sage frowned. "I hate it when he keeps secrets."

Rowen walked up. "It must be something pretty big," he sighed. "I hope Ryo's okay. He looked kinda pale." Rowen looked toward the office door. Sage glared at him. Rowen looked at him. "Come on, Sage! Sure, he's been a jerk lately, but if he's in trouble I'm going to help him! I mean, come on, SAGE. Think about how many times he saved your BUTT! And he's there whether he's mad at you or NOT!"

Sage looked down, a little ashamed. "You don't think it's too serious, do you?" Rowen shrugged his shoulders.

Officer Moree ran up to Mr. Date's car. "Sir!" the officer yelled, waving his hands in the air. "Moree, what's wrong? Why are you yelling at the top of your lungs?" Mr. Date asked, a little irrated. Moree was a new officer and always around him, asking how to be a good cop.

"Sir, we have a problem! That Alen guy that had been beating that boy is really Billy Black! And..."

"BILLY BLACK! THE MURDERER BILLY BLACK! The guy that we've been after for four months! THE guy that has killed four people? THAT BOY WAS IN THE SAME HOUSE AS THAT MAN?"

"Yes, sir, he was, but that's not the bad part! He escaped! Officer Danler was shot in the leg."

"Rachel got shot? Is she all right?" Mr. Date asked, concerned; Rachel was one of the best cops he had.

"Yes, sir, she's at the hospital now. But, sir, Billy Black knows Ryo's here!" Mr. Date looked at Moree. Mr. Date's face darkened.

"What do you mean?" "Well, when we were arresting the two he over heard Officer Danler talking about your son. He got a dark look and growled that it was 'the boy'. Then he got out of Rachel's grip, and before she could react he grabbed her gun and shot her in the leg. Then he must have had smoke bombs or something, 'cause they said the whole neighborhood filled with smoke. When it cleared he was gone."

Mr. Date sighed. "Go get the boy! I want him out of here NOW!" He thought for a moment. "GO!" Mr. Date trotted back into the dojo.

"SAGE!" Sage appeared at the door. "What is it, Dad?"

"Sage, I want you and your friends to go stay somewhere else tonight. I want you to leave NOW!"

"Dad, what's wrong?" Sage asked, taking a step closer.

"Sage, please just do it! I want you out of here NOW!" With that, Mr. Date walked away, towards his office. Sage shrugged his shoulders. "Any ideas?"

Kento took a step up. "You guys can come to my place. MY mom always complains that I don't have my friends over enough!"

"Kay, I guess I'll call my mom over there," Cye said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"My dad won't know the difference," Rowen said and started to collect his stuff.

Sage stood there for a minute. "Thanks, Kento," he said without moving. "I'm going to go get my stuff." Sage walked out of the room.

"He's pissed!" Rowen said, watching Sage.

"That would be an understatement..." Cye said and also started to collect his stuff.

Kento gathered his stuff, then stood by the door waiting for the others to finish. "Hey, guys, do you really think there is something wrong with Ryo?"

"Yeah, Kento, he's dying! How should we know?" Rowen said, standing up.

"Dang, dude! Don't bite my head off!" Kento said, getting upset.

Cye stood up, seeing the start of a fight. "Come on, guys, let's NOT fight. We all are curious about Ryo! But fighting won't help! So just cool it. Let's just go wait outside for Sage? All right?" Cye looked at the two of them.

Kento and Rowen had gone into a staring match, and neither planned on moving first.

&&&&&&

The doctor was trying to get Ryo up, but Ryo had just given up and was not in the mood to move. "Ryo?" the doctor asked. "Ryo, I know you're tired! But we need to get you into the car. Can you get up for me?" Ryo didn't respond; the doctor sighed.

Mr. Date walked through the door. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing the doctors' face.

"I can't get him to stand up! He used all his strength trying to seem like he wasn't hurt. He's just too weak." Mr. Date looked at Ryo. Ryo had his head down and was breathing in short breaths. His face had gone even paler, if that was possible. His side was still bleeding. Mr. Date sighed; there was no way Ryo was going to move.

He walked over to him and picked him up "Come on, we need to get out of here now!" Mr. Date walked quickly, stopping only a second to make sure that Sage and the others had left. He didn't want them here when that sicko might come this way. He loaded Ryo into the car. Mr. Date picked up the cell phone to call his wife, who worked at the hospital.

"Hello?" came the voice on the other line.

"Hey, hon, we have a little problem happening at home. I'm bringing Ryo to the hospital; it turns out he's been being beat But..."

"WHAT! What do you mea Ryo's been being beat! Who would hurt him? He's such a sweet boy!" Mrs. Date responded over the phone.

"Hon, they don't care how sweet these kids are! These people have serious problems! But Sage is going to go stay at one of his friends' houses. The people that beat Ryo got away... well, one did. He may be coming here! The girls are at their friends' houses as well!"

"That MONSTER is going to MY house? NO!" There was short pause on the phone. "How hurt is Ryo?"

Mr. Date sighed, "Pretty bad; he has a huge gash in his side, and it won't stop bleeding! He has other wounds on him as well. But don't worry, I have some cops coming there to watch the house. Our kids are safe, and I'm leaving now; we'll be down there as soon as possible. Kay? Look, I gotta go! Talk to you soon! ...Bye." Mr. Date hung up his cell phone.

Morrie came walking up. "Sir?" Morrie asked. Mr. Date whirled around. "Morrie? I want you to take the doctor and meet us at the hospital! I'm going to go through the house and make sure everyone's gone." Morrie nodded and walked off to get the doctor. Mr. Date looked at Ryo, then ran into the house. He checked all the rooms in the house, then went to the dojo and checked all those rooms as well. Mr. Date went back to the car; Ryo was asleep. Mr. Date smiled weakly. He wished he could just say that Ryo was safe. But Ryo was far from safe..


	3. Chapter 2

"The Legend of the Solar Whip"  
By Wildfire   
Chapter Two  
  
Mr. Date sat in the hospital chair by Ryo's bed. Ryo was sound asleep; it had been two days since he had brought him here. Ryo turned out to be a lot worse than they had thought. His bloodloss was low enough that at one point they thought he was going to die from the loss of blood. His wrist, though, wasn't that bad, it was just a really bad sprain.   
His back and side had been the worst. His back still looked like raw meat! Ryo could not sit up on his own without being in a lot of pain, and yet he knew he wasn't showing a lot of his pain; Ryo could somehow hide it.   
Mr. Date frowned; he felt like he should have done something sooner, like he should have seen it. He knew he couldn't have done anything, though; there was no way he could have known.  
He sighed as he heard the door open, but he already knew who it was. "When can he be let out?" he asked the young woman.  
Mrs. Date smiled. "Never could surprise you! Have you eaten anything today?"  
Mr. Date turned towards her. "Do you realize what kind of danger this boy is in? That man is still loose! And this boy is near death! I want him in a protected surroundings! Now, when will he be released?"  
"JOHN! He's not going to die today!" Mrs Date smiled. "Plus, you have this place surrounded as if it were a police station! John, you can't help the boy if you're too hungry to walk! I want you to go down to the kitchen and get some food!"  
"Oh, come on! Hospital food is worse than yours!" Mrs Date's eyes widened. "WHICH IS REALLY GOOD! I'm going to go get that food right now!" John scrambled out the door.  
Mrs. Date smiled at the door, then turned back to the sleeping Ryo. "Come on, I stay in a hospital all day, which is full of people who are really sleeping! Stop faking!" Mrs Date turned toward the window and opened the blinds.   
Ryo opened his eyes, and sighed. "When WILL I be released? I'd like to get outta here!" Ryo said, looking at her.  
"I bet you would, which is exactly why I won't release you! If I have my way, you'll be here for a month! If not longer!" She looked at Ryo. "Ya know, they miss you! They won't say it! But Sage's concentration bites, Kento's eating even MORE than usual, and even when Rowen is over at our house he is reading or zoning out! And Cye, well, Cye is just a mess. He keeps trying to soothe over the fighting that's going on between them all, and, well, he's having problems with that."  
Ryo's head shot up. "They're fighting?"  
Mrs. Date laughed. "Yes, they're fighting! They saw you that night, and they have no clue what's going on! It's driving them all nuts! They're worried about you." Ryo's eyes widened a little, Mrs Date laughed again. "And, no, they didn't see you go out, just you coming in! I don't even want to imagine how they would be if they saw you leave in John's arms like that!"  
"HA! They would have flipped!" Ryo looked at Mrs Date. "And that's the last thing I want them to do! Cause then they would try to be my friends outta pity!"  
"AHH! You are SO like Sage! Never force people to do stuff, only if they want to do it! That's why he hates asking for help! It's also why he hates it when people break promises to him without a good reason. Was it fair to him not to give him a good reason!"   
Ryo looked down. "Let me out of here! That way I can reunited with them my own way! I'll talk to them!"  
Mrs. Date looked at Ryo. "All right, I'll see what I can do! I might be able to get you out in a week or two."  
Ryo shot up and instantly regretted it. Mrs. Date helped him back down so he was laying down again. "Two weeks? That's too long! I can't stay in here any longer! PLEASE," Ryo pleaded.  
Mrs. Date closed her eyes. "All right, I'll talk to John; I'll see what I can do!"   
*****   
Sage sat meditating in his room, he was so confused. On one side he was angry at Ryo for just ditching him without an explanation, and on the other hand he was worried about Ryo; he was kinda pale that night, and his father never did say what happened to him.   
He sighed; he just couldn't concentrate. He stood up and walked downstairs and walked outside and started towards the woods. The forest always helped calm him. He walked for about a mile before he reached what he wanted, 'his meditation rock'. He sat down and with a sigh he started to center himself. He eventually centered himself enough to fall into a meditation.   
*****   
"KENTO! Dinner!" Mama Fuan yelled upstairs; a second later she heard a door slam and heard heavy footsteps running down the stairs. Kento rushed past his mom and was sitting calmly at the table as soon she turned around. Mama Rei Fuan laughed to herself, "I always call you to the table last, and yet you always get here first!" Kento smiled sweetly at his mother.   
Kento's five-year-old little sister, Chan, ran into the dining room, smiling big. Chan ran straight to Kento, and Kento picked her and tickled her. Chan laughed into his big arms and held her older brother closer.   
Kento sat her down. "Go sit down!"  
Mama Fuan walked back to the stairs. "Yasho, Tonmuy, get down here!" Mama Rei Fuan waited a second; she then heard yelling and fighting. She sighed and started to walk up the stairs.   
Kento jumped up, and ran past her. "I got it, Mama!" Kento yelled behind him.   
Mama Fuan laughed, then went to help Papa Fuan set the table. When the table was set, Mama Fuan looked up the stairs. "Come on, Kento!"   
Then, a second later, Kento again came barreling down the stairs with a little boy under each arm. Kento sat each boy down into a separate chair. He looked at each of them. "NO fighting! You understand me?" Both of his little brothers nodded. "Good." Kento smiled, sat down, and started serving himself some food. Before anyone else could even get any on their plate, Kento was halfway through his first plate.  
"Kento, my boy, calm down! If you ever took a girl out and she saw you eat like that, she would run out screaming!" Papa Fuan said with a smile.  
Kento looked up and around. "Don't see no girls!" He again started chowing down on his food.  
Chan looked up. "I a girl! Momma girl!" Chan pointed to herself and Kento smiled.  
"Yes, you are! But you don't care how I eat. Do you? I mean, you're cool about that, right?" Kento smiled. Chan nodded fiercely. Kento laughed, "Kay, thanks!" and again started digging into food! Mama and Papa Fuan shook their heads and smiled.  
A knock came on the front door of the restaurant. Everyone looked at the door. Papa Fuan got up. "We're closed!" The knock came again and Papa Fuan approached the door and opened it a crack. "CYE!"   
Kento jumped up. "Hey, man, what are you doing here, and why didn't you say it was you! You scared us!"  
Cye smiled and shook his head "I lost my voice," he said in a very quiet whisper. "Me and my sister were yelling all yesterday at the kendo match. We both lost our voices." Cye turned to Papa Fuan. "Sorry." His voice cracked a little as he whispered it.  
Mama Fuan laughed, "You lost your voice? Well then, come in, I'll make you a nice hot cup of tea! It'll clear that right up!" Cye nodded and stepped more into the house/restaurant.  
Kento looked at Cye. "So, what brings you around here?"  
Cye shrugged his shoulders. "Just walking around and thought I'd stop by." Mama Fuan came back in and handed him a cup of tea. Cye bowed his head a little, and Mama Fuan smiled and ruffled his hair.  
Papa Fuan put his arm around Cye's shoulders. "Cye we just sat down for dinner, I do hope you well join us?" Cye nodded. "Good! Do we need to call your mom and tell her you're here?"   
Cye shook his head 'no'. "She knows I'm here."   
Kento winced at Cye's voice. "Damn, Cye, you sound AWFUL!" Kento said, and Cye smiled.   
*****   
Rowen sat in front of his computer; he had been staring at it practically all day! His eyes were starting to really sting. His history teacher had assigned that everyone was to write a report on either America, China, Canada, or Mexico. He had chosen America, and he had really gotten into it! He discovered this myth that was really odd, something about a whip! He knew this wouldn't help him on his report, but it sounded a lot like their armor.   
Rowen sat back in his chair and sighed, I wonder if this whip is real like our armor is! What if this thing really exists! What if the enemy gets a hold of it! We'll all be dead! This is annoying!  
Rowen heard the front door open and close. "Rowen, you home?" came his dad's voice.  
"Yeah, Dad, I'm up here!" Rowen yelled back.  
"Hey, Rowen, I picked up some food; have you eaten? If not, come on down here!"  
Rowen sighed; he put the site into his favorite spots and signed off the web. "Coming," he yelled down and headed downstairs.  
Rowen's dad turns around and smiled at him, then handed Rowen a plate. "What were you working on?"  
"Nothing, just a report for school." Rowen started fishing the rice and noodles out of the little containers.  
His dad looked at him. "Need any help?"  
"Nah, I got it! It's pretty easy. I just got kinda absorbed into it!" Rowen smiled, and his dad did as well.   
His dad wrapped his arm around Rowen's neck and laughed. "Come on, YOU! Let's go watch a movie!"   
Rowen laughed and let his dad drag him into the living room.   
*****   
Ryo carefully put on his shirt, every once in a while looking at the door. He know, all too well, that it was dangerous to leave without permission, but he had to get out of here. He needed to see if he could still fight. He felt SO weak! He also needed to get his friends to forgive him.   
He just couldn't stay here anymore. He had too many things he needed to do. Plus, he hated the thought of that murderer knowing where he was. It might be more dangerous to go out into the open, but he had to try it anyway.   
He quickly looked at the door and made sure it was locked; it would buy him a little bit of time. Ryo stepped closer to the window; he opened it and looked outside. It was a beautiful afternoon, but that didn't make him happy. Ryo carefully removed the screen. He looked, regretfully, once more at the door. "I'm sorry," he whispered to no one in particular. Then he jumped outside. He was luckily on the first floor, so the height was no problem.   
Ryo ran away from the hospital as fast as he could. The first thing he wanted to do was to prove to himself he could still fight. He had to be able to still fight! He ran through the town, not caring who he ran into, just wanting to get away! Away from it all!   
*****   
Tina sat in her bed staring outside. A couple of weeks ago she had written to Cye, saying she could no longer be with him. Chi Chi and Brittany said it was the right thing to do, but it tore her up to do it.  
She really did care about Cye more than she had ever cared for any other guy. Cye was sweet, caring, and just lovable. He wasn't like other guys, he was just somehow different!   
Tina wanted nothing more than to just call him and get back together. But she was too afraid that he wouldn't take her back! Or that he had found someone else!   
*****   
Kento and Cye walked down the city's streets; Cye had ended up spending the night last night. He had, also, somewhat gotten his voice back.  
"So, Cye, anywhere you want to go?" Kento asked him, staring into the crowd. Cye shrugged his shoulders, then his eyes got a little big; a huge smile appeared on his face. Kento looked at what had caught Cye's eyes. He groaned a little when he saw the beach shop, but more importantly, the surfboards. "Ah, come on, Cye!"   
Cye ignored him, and walked straight into the store. Kento growled; he was about to follow but then something caught his eye. He turned around just in time to see some boy rush around the corner. His eyes widened a little when he noticed who it was. "Ryo? What was he doing here?"   
Some part of Kento wanted to follow Ryo, but another part knew he would never be able to catch up to him. Kento sighed and went into the surfing shop. He found Cye drooling over some long surfboard. "Hey, come on, Cye; we got to meet Rowen at the match thing! Sage will kill us if we're late! And his first match starts in one hour!"  
"Dang, we better get going! Sage wants us there like forty minutes early!" Cye grabbed Kento's arm and pulled him out of the store. He paused only a second and looked at the person at the register. "Don't worry, mate. I'll be back!" The lady at the register laughed a little and Kento rolled his eyes. Cye pulled him out the door.   
*****   
Ryo had seen this dojo before; Sage used to have a lot of his matches here. They sometimes allowed people to just come in and sign up. Ryo hoped today they would let him. There was no way he could pass an examination. Ryo shouldn't be fighting in his condition anyway; he could easily rip open the wound on his side again. He knew that sometime during today (if he got to fight) his back would start to bleed and he would probably have to change the bandage's on it at least twice today.   
Ryo sighed, then walked inside; he went up to the lady behind the desk. The young woman had a light brown hair that went just below her shoulders, and she was quite thin and looked kinda snotty. Ryo put on his grin that usually made girls blush.  
The young woman looked up and smiled when she saw his cute face smiling at him. "Hey, how can I help ya? Need a date, sweety?" she said in an annoying high-pitched voice.  
Ryo smiled at her. "Nah, but thanks anyway. Look, I'm new in town and I wanted to see how good the competition is here. Is there any way I could still sign up for today?"  
"Well, I dunno, I ain't supposed to! But you're mighty cute! I tell you what! I'll sign you up, but you better not be foolin' me! You best know how to fight!"   
Ryo stood there trying to keep a smile on his face, but her voice was so annoying! "Of course I know how to FIGHT, that's all I've been doing since I was like five!"  
The young woman put on a huge smile. "All right, sweety! What's your name? And how old are you?"  
"Ryo Sanada, ah, seventeen."  
The girl smiled and wrote down the information. "Well, Mr. Sanada, your first fight is at twelve-thirty-five in the green circle." She looked at her watch. "That's about a half an hour from now, so I suggest you get ready." The young woman handed Ryo a key. " The locker room is over there; I gave you one of the best lockers there is! And I expect you to rank pretty high today!"  
He took the key. "Thanks." Ryo slowly walked towards the locker room; he figured he'd have it pretty much to himself, considering all the other competitors had already changed into their clothes. Ryo was just glad he was able to get a hold of a workout outfit; it was nothing fancy, just a white pair of loose pants and a white t-shirt. He changed quickly and looked at himself in the mirror. It was a little old, but it would work just fine.   
Walking out of the locker room, he went a little pale as he realized that Sage might be in this match! Oh, man, Sage would kill me if he got the chance to fight me! MAN, just hope that Sage won't be fighting today; Sage doesn't usually come here anymore anyway. Ryo shrugged the thought off; if he was fighting Sage there was nothing he could do now. If he dropped out now, he would get that lady in trouble, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.   
He quickly got his head back in what he was doing and went back to the matches. After watching a couple of matches, he realized it was almost his turn. Ryo started to head to the green circle; the guy he was fighting was already there and he didn't seem too tough.   
Ryo beat him with ease, and proceeded to breeze through all his opponents. Carefully monitoring his wounds after each new opponent, Ryo was surprised to find that they were all still holding together.   
*****   
Sage, Rowen, Cye, and Kento all sat next to the ring, watching a fight. "I'm gonna to go check out some of the other fights." Kento stood and stretched as he walked off.  
Sage sighed, wiped some sweat off his brow and looked at his watch. "My next fight is in about ten minutes."  
Cye looked at Sage. "Hey, Sage, how many more fights you got to go?"  
"Well, if I keep winning! Which I will." Rowen hit Sage in the head, and Sage laughed. "Anyway, about five more! I hope my main competitor will be somewhat good." Sage sighed just as Kento came running up.  
Kento stood there a second, trying to catch his breath. "GUYS, you are not going to believe this! Ryo's fighting! HERE!"   
Sage jumped up. "RYO'S FIGHTING HERE IN THESE FIGHTS!"  
Rowen laughed. "Well, I guess that your last main big fight isn't going to be that easy!" Sage shoot him a glare. "Well, it does."  
Sage turned to Kento. "Well, I guess this means he was fine after all! I can't believe I was ever worried about that little jerk!"  
Rowen put a hand on Sage's shoulder. "Big jerk, Sage, not little jerk, big jerk! Come on, let's go to your next fight." Sage nodded and walked off with Rowen.  
Kento looked at Cye. "Come on, man, let's go see Ryo fight!" Kento pulled Cye in the opposite direction as Sage and Rowen had gone in.   
*****   
Ryo finished his fight with an upper kick, which he instantly regretted as his leg started to stiffen up. His leg was almost healed, but the constant weight of his body was starting to take its toll. Ryo walked up to one of the judges to see where his next fight would be.  
"Well, Mr. Sanada, you have done very well! You made it to the finals; if you win this next battle you win the tournament. And your next fight well be in the gold circle against Sage Date." Ryo's eyes widened at those words, but the judge didn't seem to notice. "Well, I give you my best luck! Mr. Date has never lost; he is very good. You need to be ready and in the gold circle in ten minutes." Ryo nodded and walked off.   
Ryo walked to the locker room; his back was bleeding again, and he needed to change his bandages on his leg and his side. Pushing open the door into the locker room, Ryo froze when he heard the two other voices. Quickly hiding in one of the bathroom stalls, he listened with growing unease.  
Rowen sat in a chair as Sage redid his hair. Sage put the comb away. "I can't believe RYO'S here!"  
Rowen looked up. "What, you worried that you won't win this time?" Rowen smiled.  
Sage glared. "OF course I'll win! I WON'T let him beat ME!"   
Rowen laughed. "Come on! Let's go find Kento and Cye." Rowen and Sage walked out of the locker rooms.   
Ryo stepped out of the restroom, looked around, then went to his locker and pulled out the bandages, and started taking off the old ones and replacing them with new ones. Ryo looked at his watch and realized he had better get over to that gold circle or he'd be late. Sage would probably kill him just for being late; Ryo smirked at the thought.   
Ryo headed out of the locker room and toward the gold circle. When Ryo got there Sage was already there. As soon as Sage saw Ryo, Sage started to glare. Ryo sighed; this was going to be a long fight! Ryo walked up and checked in with the judge. Ryo looked around at the crowd; everyone was there, since this was the last and final fight.  
One of the judges came onto the mat and signaled for both Ryo and Sage to come onto the mat. At the center of the mat Sage and Ryo shook hands; the judge stepped out of the ring then shouted, "BEGIN!"  
Moving in a circle, each waiting for the other to make the first move...  
Suddenly Sage jumped into the air and came down on Ryo with a punch. Ryo, reacting instinctively, jumped and rolled out of the way as Sage tried to punch him again. From flat on his back Ryo flipped forward into a perfectly balanced fighting stance. Both circled again and waited. Two sets of eyes, following each other's every move, both intense and totally focused.   
Sage, seeing that Ryo was tired, charged him. Sage aimed a jab at Ryo's right side; Ryo simultaneously lunged backwards and aimed his own jab at Sage's exposed right side, jumping into a one-eighty-degree kick. Ryo aimed straight at Sage's head. Sage jumped back, then swung at Ryo; Ryo blocked his punch, putting Sage off-balance for just a second, but it was long enough for Ryo. Ryo kicked with his right leg, which was odd for him, but with his hurt leg he couldn't put that much pressure on it, even for a second. Kicking with it was hard enough!  
Sage fell backwards and landed on his back, The judge shouted "Point!" and pointed to Ryo. Ryo never really understood the whole point thing! Sage had tried to explain it to him a long time ago, but he still didn't get it. He just fought until they said he won!   
Sage stood up and walked to the center of the ring where Ryo already was; they shook hands again, and the judge yelled "Begin!" again. Sage was mad at this point for letting himself get off-guard even for a second! Sage decided to do a new move his grandfather had just taught him a couple of days ago. Sage charged Ryo again, throwing punches and kicks at him. Sage then on purpose let his side go open. Ryo took the bait and swung at it, but right before Ryo hit Sage, Sage jumped into the air and behind Ryo. Sage kicked Ryo in the back, sending him crashing to the ground face-first.   
Sage expected Ryo to get up right away and be really mad, but Ryo didn't move. A doctor that was always at the fights, made his way onto the mat. Ryo got up slowly and talked to the doctor a little. The doctor sighed, then went over to one of the judges and talked to him for a second. The judge nodded and stood up and yelled as loud as he could, "Point goes to Sage Date! FIVE MINUTE BREAK!"   
Sage's eyes went wide; he didn't want any break, he wanted to get this over with! He looked back at Ryo; Ryo was now on one knee, breathing kinda heavy. Sage sighed and walked over to his friends.  
Kento stared at Ryo, then looked at Sage. "Dude! What happened?"  
Sage shrugged. "Hell if I know! I just kicked him in his back, and it wasn't that hard either!"  
"Maybe there is something wrong with him?" Rowen said, still staring at Ryo.  
"Man, why don't you try to avoid his back from now on! Plus, if you hit it again these people are going to start 'booing' at you!" Cye said, also staring at Ryo.   
Sage nodded. Sage looked at Ryo again this time, looking at his face rather than his body posture. Ryo looked almost in pain, which probably meant he was in quite a bit of pain. He had always been good at hiding his pain. He never let on how much pain he was really in!  
Ryo slowly made himself stand up and he cursed slightly. Then made himself stand up all the way. Ryo wished that he could've had ten minutes so that he could have changed his bandages. He knew that his back must be bleeding. If he didn't change his bandages soon, the blood would soak through his clothes and everyone would see it. Then... oh, then he didn't even want to think about that! The guys would freak! The judges would want to 'examine' his back! And somehow it would get back to Mr Date; then it would be a total mess!   
Ryo closed his eyes for a second; he HAD to think. If he forfeited the match the guys would know something was up, that and Sage would kill him! Sage was wired in that way he wanted the fight! And if he didn't get it, Sage would be mad, even though he would be the winner! Sage would say he didn't really win just because he didn't fight the last fight! No, Ryo couldn't forfeit! And the judges weren't about to give him another five minutes to go to the locker room without a damn good reason. Ryo, of course, wouldn't be able to tell them that reason, though!   
Ryo sighed; he would just have to fight, and hope it ended in time for him to be able to change his bandages without it bleeding through!  
Five minutes passed far too quickly for Ryo, because for the next thing he knew the judge was out there saying for them to both come back into the center of the ring. Ryo cursed to himself when he saw that Sage had a concerned look in his eyes. Well, he would make sure Sage didn't keep that look in his eyes.   
As soon as he heard the judge say "Begin," Ryo turned around and spun back around, landing a kick right into Sage's stomach; Sage fell backwards, giving Ryo another point.  
Ryo smiled; the only thing that was going threw his mind was, One more point, then I win! Can't let Sage win! Sage needs two points! I need one! Maybe I'll pull this off after all!  
Sage got up and cursed; he looked at Ryo's smiling face. Anger flared through Sage. That JERK! Pain, my ass! He's fine! He was trying to get me to go easy on HIM! Dirty trick! Well, I'll show him! I WON'T BE BEATEN SO EARLY! I may be a point behind him, but it won't matter! I always win! Sage stood up and waited as soon as it was good to go. Sage jumped into the air and aimed a punch start for Ryo's face. As Sage predicted Ryo jumped to the left to avid getting hit. Sage whirled around and planted a kick right into Ryo's right side. Ryo's eyes went wide, then he slammed his eyes shut. He started to sway and for a second Sage thought he was going to fall over.  
Ryo tried hard not to fall down, but he was feeling SO much pain. Sage had hit right on his wound on his side. He knew it was gushing blood. He had to get away! And NOW! Ryo grabbed his side to make sure that no one would see the blood that was now seeping through his clothes. Ryo ran past Sage and past the judges. Ryo ran straight into the locker room he took a second to get his stuff. Sage came bursting through the door.  
"RYO! What the hell just happened?" Sage yelled, and Ryo hid against a wall. Sage turned around and walked towards the showers. "Ryo? Where are you! I know you're still in here! I didn't give you enough time to escape out the window."  
Ryo leaned against the wall more and looked at the closet window. There was no way he could get there before Sage caught him.  
Sage finally saw Ryo; he was looking at the window. Sage frowned. "HI!" Ryo jumped. "So, you want to explain what the HELL just happened?" Sage was concerned, but he was more angry; nobody ran out on a fight.  
Ryo didn't know what to say. all he knew is that he was in pain, his back was burning and his side just hurt, BADLY! Ryo was starting to get light-headed; he was still short on blood from the last time he was bleeding badly. He felt like he was going to pass out any moment. "Sage," his voice was strained, "Sage, why are you angry at me?"  
Sage stared at him for a moment. "Ryo, are you hurt or not?! Sometimes I think you are, but then you act as if you're not!"  
Ryo laughed a little. "Sage, have you ever known me to show pain, if I could avoid it? But you didn't answer my question. Why are you mad at me?"  
"Why do you THINK? You ditched ME and you didn't give me a reason! All you said was 'something came up'!" Sage yelled, staring at Ryo as if he were his worst enemy.  
"What if I told you there was a good reason?" Ryo asked him.  
"Then I want to know what it is!" Sage said and took a step towards Ryo.  
Ryo smiled a little. "All right, I wasss..." Ryo fell forward; Sage caught him, putting a hand on Ryo's side to lift him up more. Sage's eyes widened as he felt the warm sticky fluid on his hand. Sage looked at his now blood-covered hand, then he looked at Ryo. His face was pale and was just leaning against Sage. Sage put a hand around Ryo, then on his back. Ryo hissed in pain. "N-n-not the BACK!" Ryo leaned more into Sage. Sage just stared at Ryo for a moment, then helped Ryo over to one of the benches. He sat Ryo down, then sat next to him, making sure he was steady.  
As soon as Sage thought Ryo had gotten some control over himself, he thought he'd ask Ryo what was going on. "Okay, Ryo, spill it; what the hell happened to you?"  
Ryo sighed, "It will be easier to show you than tell you. H-help me get my shirt off." Sage looked at Ryo, a little puzzled, but nonetheless helped Ryo get his shirt off. He went in front of Ryo and gently lifted it off of him. Sage cursed a little when he saw Ryo's side; it was bandaged up but the bandage was now just red-soaked with Ryo's blood.  
"Dang, Ryo, what happened" Sage asked in a quiet voice, then looked up at Ryo.  
Ryo smiled weakly. "Why don't you look at my back! I think you'll get it then." Sage looked at Ryo's side again, then moved behind him. Ryo's back was also bandaged up and there was blood socking threw it as well.  
"I'm guessing this is why we got the five minute break? Cause I hit your back?" Ryo didn't move. Sage gently removed the bandages from Ryo's back. Sage wanted to hurl when he saw Ryo's back. It was all red and puffy. Sage gently touched it. Ryo's back arched away from him.  
"What is it with you and your dad trying to touch my back?" Ryo smiled weakly at him.  
Sage's eyes widened as he suddenly got it. "THAT'S why you were there that night!" Sage got quiet. "And I tried to throw you out! What would have happened if you would have left?" Sage said almost to himself, realizing he would have bled to death if he would have left.  
Ryo smiled. "I didn't have any plains of leaving just cause you told me to!" Ryo's voice was strained.   
Sage knew he needed to stop the bleeding. "Where are your bandages?" Sage asked.  
Ryo's breath was getting shorter. "Over there in that bag."  
Sage got the bag, then went back to Ryo's side. He crouched down in front of Ryo and removed what was left of the bandages on his side. He then got out the other bandages and replaced it back over Ryo's wound.  
Ryo's head hurt; he just wanted to sleep, he was SO tired! And he was so dizzy! But he forced himself to stay awake. "S-so, Sage, w-w-why are the judges not h-here? I-I thought they'd c-come running in as well?"  
Sage smiled as he moved behind Ryo so he could replace the bandages on his back. "I was wondering when you were going to ask that! I told them I would take care of it and to give us ten minutes. I was surprised when they agreed. I was even more surprised when the judges were able to keep the guys out!"  
Ryo looked up. "Not for long!" Ryo gestured to the window with his head. Sage looked up and he could see Kento's shoes. Sage smiled and finished up bandaging up Ryo's back.  
Sage smiled. "What are you going to tell them?" Sage raised an eyebrow at the window; he could hear Rowen yelling at Kento, who was still trying to get open the window. "That is, if they get in here!"  
"I dunno... maybe I-I'll tell them t-t-the truth." Ryo laughed a little. "Sage, I've got to get out of here. Those judges can't find me right now!"  
Sage nodded and helped Ryo put his shirt back on. "Shall we go out the window?" Ryo nodded weakly; he felt completely drained. Sage helped him up and to the window. He could still see Kento trying to get the window open and Rowen yelling at him to pull the thing instead of trying to push it. Smiling, Sage pushed the window open and looked at the guys. "Hi."  
"Hey! DUDE, what happened in there! The judges wouldn't let us in!" Kento said, staring at Sage.  
Rowen crossed his arms and glared at Kento. "I told you to pull!"  
"Hey, guys, help me get Ryo out!" Sage disappeared for a second.  
"Why can't Ryo get himself out?" Kento asked just as Ryo's head appeared in the window. His face was pale, and he looked as if he was going to pass out right away. Kento immediately grabbed him and pulled him up. Ryo's breath was shallow and coming out in short gasps. Kento steadied Ryo.   
Sage jumped out of the window and looked around. "Kay, let's go; we need to get him to a bed!" Sage said, brushing his hand through his hair.  
"What happened to him?" Cye asked.  
"Never mind that; right now he needs a place to rest. Rowen, your house is the closest, can we go there?"  
"YA! Of course; my dad won't be home till late!" Rowen and Kento helped Ryo to the apartment place. When they got into Rowen's house, Kento helped Ryo lay down on the couch. Sage walked into the kitchen.  
"Okay, now spill it, you two! What happened!" Kento yelled.  
Sage walked in and handed Ryo a small glass of water and two pills. Ryo's hands shook as he took them. Ryo looked at Sage. "Man, your dad's going to kill me! ...Unless, of course, your mom gets to me first!"   
Sage laughed a little. "You should probably get some sleep; I'll fill the guys in on as much as I know. I'll call my dad too."   
Ryo nodded, then laid down on the couch. Ryo closed his eyes and soon he fell into a deep sleep.   
*****   
A young girl sat in the sheriff's office. She was a beautiful girl; she had long brown hair that was pulled into a high ponytail. Her hair went just past her butt and curled slightly at the bottom. She had DARK brown eyes, and a perfect body that made most guys drool.   
Mr. Date walked into the office. "Chessica? How are you?"  
"Fine, what do you want..." she looked at his name tag, "John! I'd like to go back to do my nails! They're dirty." She brushed her nails against her shirt.  
John frowned at her. "Young lady, you will be staying with me! I do hope we can get along! Cause in my house we don't take kindly to smartmouths!"  
Chessica saluted him. "Sir, yes sir!" She laughed at him. "Trust me, I WON'T be staying with you for LONG!"  
Mr. Date sighed and looked at the girl. "All right, if that's what you want. We will not force you to come and live with my family. Would you like me to find you a foster home?"  
Chessica sat up straight in her seat. "NO! I mean, I guess I can put up with your family for a little while!"  
Mr. Date smiled. "All right, would you like to know some stuff about my household?"  
"I guess that wouldn't hurt."  
"All right, I have three kids, two daughters and one son. My youngest daughter is fourteen and my son is a year older than you, seventeen. And my oldest daughter is nineteen. My wife's father lives with us, and he very honor-bound, as is my son, Sage. I do hope you'll be able to get along with someone in my family. Maybe I can help you find an interest with one of them. What are you interested in?"  
"Don't know, I CAN'T remember!" Chessica said, and Mr. Date frowned.  
Mr. Date rubbed his head, thinking, This is going to be a lot harder than I thought it was going to be! 


	4. Chapter 3

"The Legend of the Solar Whip"  
By Wildfire   
Chapter Three   
Two weeks later   
Sage sat in his living room; he was reading a book and Ryo was sitting in the chair across from him. He was trying to catch up on some of his homework that he hadn't been able to do cause of his foster parents. Sage sighed and looked over his book. "You need any more painkillers?"  
"SAGE! It's been like two weeks now, I'm pretty much good! Stop worrying about me!" Ryo laughed a little to himself.  
"You're NOT fine; your back is still awful and that wound on your side could easily break open again!" Sage stared at Ryo. "Are you sure you don't want to stay here? We have room!"  
"Don't worry about me, Sage. I'll be fine at Rowen's; I'm SURE he'll fuss over me just as well as you do! Plus, that girl is coming over TODAY! This house would be WAY too crowded with seven people in it!"  
Sage nodded. "All right! Just be careful!"  
Ryo got an irritated look on his face. "Yes, MOTHER!"  
"RYO! I'm serious! You always try to push yourself too FAR!"  
"SAGE! Guess what! I'm a BIG boy, I can take care of myself! I swear, sometimes I wish you guys never found out! You've all been treating me like a baby!"  
Sage sighed and looked at Ryo. "I'm sorry, Ryo. It's just I feel bad..."  
"WELL, DON'T! You or any of the other guys had NO way of knowing! Let's just let it go!" Ryo said hopefully, then turned back to his homework. Sage started to read his book again.   
*****   
Mr. Date pulled into his driveway, then into the garage. He looked at Chessica; she was sitting there just staring out the window. "Well, this is it... would you like to go in?"  
Chessica looked at him like he was the most stupid man on this planet. "Well, I guess that would be the SMART thing to do! BUT hey, if you want you can stay in here; you could even close the garage and turn the car back on!"  
"YOUNG LADY! I do NOT appreciate your attitude! I have to deal with MANY suicides, and I don't like people teasing about it!" Mr Date got out of his car without another word; he opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a small suitcase and walked into the house.  
Chessica sat in the car for a second then got out as well and walked into the house. The first thing she saw was the two young men sitting in the living room. There was one with blond hair; he was sitting up very straight and reading a book. The other one had shoulder-length black hair and was typing on a calculator and frowning.  
Mr. Date walked down the stairs and looked at Ryo. "How you feeling, Ryo?"  
"Fine; hey, Mr. Date? Have you had any luck on finding Alen?" Ryo asked hopefully.  
"I'm sorry, Ryo, but it's like the man has completely disappeared!" Mr. Date sighed. "Are you sure you don't want to stay here?"  
"With all due respect, Mr. Date, I'm just as safe at Rowen's house as I am here. Just as long as I'm able to fight back, I don't think this guy stands much of a chance anyway."  
Mr. Date smiled. "Of course!" He turned to Chessica. "I put your stuff in your room, would you like to get comfortable now?"  
Chessica glared at Mr. Date. "Actually, I'd like to go for a walk... THAT is, if it's all right with YOU!"  
"Of course, just don't wander to far off. It's easy to get lost up here!" Mr. Date said as nice as possible.  
Chessica looked at him for a second. "Yeah, sure, whatever." Then she walked out the door.  
Sage just stared at the door for a second. "Well, I guess she isn't really a sweet girl!" Sage stared at his father.  
"It'll work, Sage." Mr. Date looked at his watch. "Look, I gotta get going; Sage, try to make her comfortable."  
"Okay, Dad; hey, when's Grandfather getting back?" Sage asked his dad but didn't really take his eyes off his book.  
"He should be back in about a hour. Ryo, when are you going over Rowen's? Will you be staying for dinner?" Mr. Date asked.  
"I dunno, I guess it kinda depends on what Rowen wants to do."  
"All right, you boys, give me a call when you know what's going on, though, kay?"  
Both Sage and Ryo nodded their heads; Mr. Date smiled and grabbed his keys, then walked outside again. Sage turned to Ryo. "Can you say 'bitch'? Man, I don't think that girl could have been any ruder!"  
Ryo shook his head. "Good luck with this one, Sage! I think you'll need it. But I must say she IS hot. Hey, I think I'm going to call Rowen and see what he wants to do for tonight."  
"That's cool, why don't you tell him to come on over?" Sage said then turned back to his book, and Ryo walked over to the phone.   
*****   
Rowen sat in front of his computer; he had been on it all night long. This Solar Whip thing was driving him nuts. He had been trying to find anything new on it, and he just kept getting the same thing over and over again.   
Rowen sighed as the phone rang. He stood up and picked up the phone. "Hello? ...Ryo? I don't know, what do you want to do..." Rowen looked at his watch. "I can be over in about forty minutes. Will that work? ...Yeah, I'm kinda researching something interesting; I'll bring it over so you and Sage can read it. Cause I'm fresh out of ideas... YES, Ryo, it IS possible for ME to be fresh out of ideas! ...Okay, see you guys soon... yeah, yeah, whatever, BYE!"   
He hung up the phone and sighed, then went over to the computer and printed out the stuff on it. Rowen went into the bathroom and started up the shower; he looked awful. And he needed to freshen up.   
*****   
Chessica ran through the front door, scaring Sage and Ryo out of their wits. Ryo stared at her. "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!"  
"Sorry! I... ahh... got to... ahh... GO!" Chessica ran upstairs into the room that she's now staying in.  
"Well, that was interesting; this girl is going to BE interesting!" Sage said, staring at the stairs; he then turned to Ryo. "When's Rowen coming over?"  
Ryo looked at his watch. "In about ten more minutes, but we all know that Rowen isn't always on time, and really so when he gets involved with something."  
"What did he get into this time?"  
"I dunno, but he said he was fresh out of ideas and was going to bring it over here."  
"ROWEN? Rowen's fresh out of ideas? Dang, must be some problem!"  
Chessica came back down the stairs with a smile on her face; she then looked at Sage and Ryo and frowned. "I hope you don't mind me getting something to eat?" she asked Sage.  
"Not at all, help yourself!" Sage said with a smile. "If you need any help finding something just ask."  
"Sure, whatever." Chessica went into the kitchen.  
The front door opens and in walked Sage's grandfather. Sage jumped up and bowed to his grandfather. "Grandfather-san, you're home early."  
"Yes, is that a wrong thing to be home early?"  
"No, sir."  
Chessica walked through the door with a sandwich in one hand and a pop in the other. "You must be Susan's pop! How do you do?"  
"Hm, this young lady speaks as bad as your friend Kento. I am fine, thank you. And how are you this fine afternoon?"  
Chessica looked at him for moment then shrugged her shoulders. "Fine, I guess. Hey, is there anything to do around here?"  
Sage looked up. "You could read, we have tons of books."  
"I MEANT anything FUN to do!"  
"Well, I'm sure my grandson would be honored to give you some kendo lessons. If you think that would be fun," Sage's grandfather told her.  
Sage jumped up. "BUT Grandfather!"  
"No buts, Sage; if this young lady wants some lessons you will give them to her! Plus, you need practice; someday you will take over the dojo, and you will need to know how to teach people."  
Sage sat back down, glaring at the ground. Chessica smiled at him. "I'd love to learn kendo," she said in a smug voice.  
"Good!" Grandfather Date turned to Sage. "Lighten up, boy! Maybe your friend Ryo will help you? No matter to me; I will be in my room if you need anything. I expect you to start as soon as this young lady is ready." Grandfather Date walked upstairs and into his room.  
"Okay, I'm ready NOW, let's go!" Chessica walked outside and headed towards the dojo.  
Sage looked at Ryo. "You don't have to help if you don't want to."  
"No, I'd love to! It will give me a chance to train a little and still take it easy. I'll leave a note on the door telling Rowen we're in the dojo. You go on in."   
*****   
Chessica sat in the dojo watching Sage trying to show her how to throw a punch.   
Sage looked at her. "Do you get it? Why don't you try?" Chessica stood up, then did a punch and kinda jerked her arm. "NO! Don't jerk your arm. Just do it slow. Watch me." Sage got in a fighting stance again. "Now you see how my fist is facing me, then I rotate it out so my knuckles are facing whoever I'm trying to hit, then I push forward, NOT jerking. Now you try."  
Chessica again jerked her arm forward. Sage growled. "DO it SLOW!" Chessica tried to do it slow, but bent her wrist, and, keeping her elbow bent, threw the whole thing. "What is THAT! Are you trying to make a shadow puppet of an ostrich?"  
Chessica smiled. "You really should be MORE patient!" Chessica looked at her nails. "I AM new at this!"  
"You're new at it all! But at least try to take it seriously! Kendo is a form of honor and respect!"  
Chessica smiled and played with her hair. "And I'm a form of beauty and love. SO what's your point!"  
Ryo walked into the dojo. "Hey, Sage, you having any luck with her?" Sage just glared at him; Ryo grimaced.  
"So, did you leave the note for Rowen?"  
"Didn't need to, he showed up right as I started putting it on the door."  
Sage looked around. "Really? And he would be..."  
"In the bathroom. So, what are you trying to teach her?" Ryo asked, looking at Chessica as she fluffed up her hair.  
"A simple PUNCH! But can she do it? NO!!" Sage rubbed his temples; Chessica smiled and winked at Ryo. Ryo's eyes widened and he quickly looked away.  
"So, are we gonna train, or are you two just going to sit there looking cute?" Chessica smiled.  
Rowen walked into the dojo, drying his hands on his pants. "Hey, Sage, you don't have any more towels in your bathroom." He stopped talking as he saw Chessica standing there. His jaw dropped open as he saw her body. "Wow," he said quietly to himself  
Ryo smiled to himself. "Rowen, this is Chessica."  
Rowen smiled, then blushed sightly as he realized he was staring at her. "Glad to meet you, Chessica, I'm Rowen!"  
Chessica raised an eyebrow at him. "I would care why?" She then looked at Sage. "Are you going to teach or just stand there?"  
"Of course I'm going to!" Sage turned to Rowen. "We never said the meeting was going to be FUN!" Rowen just stood there, not believing this girl could be SO rude.  
Sage tried to teach her how to fight for another ten minutes before he gave up and told her to just watch him and the others fight and see if she could learn anything THAT way. Sage fought Rowen because he didn't want the chance of maybe hurting Ryo again. He and Ryo usually got REALLY into it, and one of them would usually come out a little injured. And in Ryo's condition, it would be him.  
Ryo sat next to Chessica watching Rowen and Sage fight. He hated having to sit out like this, but he knew Sage was right; he couldn't fight.  
Chessica looked at him. "Hey, you look upset. What's your problem?"  
"Nothing, just a had a rough couple of weeks. What's your excuse?"  
Chessica raised an eyebrow at him, then did a half smile. "Guess you could say I've had a rough couple of weeks as well."  
"Yeah, so I've heard." Ryo looked at her for a couple of seconds. "What's it like? To NOT be able to remember, I mean. What does it feel like?"  
"I dunno, it's just like nothing there. It's strange... it's just... gone!" Chessica stared off into space.   
Ryo smiled at her. "You try to be all mean and tough, but you aren't!! You are just lost!"  
Chessica glared at him. "I AM not lost! And I don't need anyone!"   
Ryo sighed. "You don't think you need anyone, but you do. I lost both of my parents when I was little; I told everyone I didn't need anyone. And I thought I was fine, that is until I met the guys and I realized just how lonely I was."  
Chessica glared at him. "OH, that's so sweet! Did you get it out of a book?"  
"Nope! I am an orphan! And I was alone the majority of my life!"  
"Well, that's really SAD! Thanks for making me depressed tonight," she said in a sarcastic voice.  
Ryo smiled. "Anytime."   
*****   
Alen sat watching Ryo. He was going to kill him, and he was going to do it tonight! He would attack him and his little blue friend. Alen had NO concern with the other boy; he would just knock him out. But Sanada would DIE!   
*****   
Sage smiled at Rowen and wiped his brow. "So, you guys going to stay for dinner?"  
Rowen looked at Chessica, then at Sage. "I think we'll just get going. I need to finish my research anyway." Sage nodded; if he could get away from this girl he would.  
"So, you ready, Rowen? If so, just give me one second to grab my bag," Ryo asked, and Rowen nodded. Ryo ran off.  
"Well, have fun doing your research!" Sage said, smiling; Rowen smiled back.  
"Have fun with the bitch!" Rowen said and started to walked out the door, but then stopped and turned around. "I almost forgot!" He picked up his backpack and pulled out several pieces of paper and handed them to Sage. "Read them over and tell me if you can come up with anything!!" Rowen then ran out the door to find Ryo.  
Sage sighed, then looked at Chessica. "You ready to try again?" Chessica looked at him, then got up and nodded, with no emotion.   
*****   
Ryo walked outside with his bag; he instantly saw Rowen standing there and walked towards him. "Got everything?" Rowen asked, and Ryo nodded.   
They both started to walk towards Rowen's house. They were about halfway to his house when they heard the whistling of leaves behind them. Both Rowen and Ryo whipped around, searching for the follower, but they saw no one. Ryo swallowed hard; he suddenly had a bad feeling. "Come on, Rowen, let's go!" Ryo turned around, then he felt something hard hit his head, then all was black.   
Ryo woke up with a splitting headache; he couldn't feel his feet for some reason. Ryo forced his eyes open and the first thing he saw was a river below him; he was hanging from something and his whole foot, up to his ankle, was in the freezing water. Ryo looked up to see that he was hanging from a tree branch. Then he realized he was only in his boxers. Ryo tried to look around to get a better guess of what was going on; the river was narrow and he could see there was someone standing on the bank not three feet away.   
His breath caught in his throat as he realized it was Alen. He cursed to himself when he realized his armor orb was in his pants, and he could only guess what Alen had done with those! Ryo started to think to himself of what to do. How could I have been SO stupid! I knew someone was following us... ROWEN! Oh, god, what happened to HIM! Please say Alen didn't kill him! Oh man, where could he be! Ryo tried to twist around again, but his body was stiff from cold and his head still hurt; he could see nothing. Oh god, where is he! I can't even see Alen anymore!!  
"So you're awake; it's ABOUT time, I was starting to grow impatient!" Alen said from behind him. "Ever since you locked up my love, I've been searching for a place that would be most uncomfortable and I could still reach you with the whip. 'Cause I know that you loved the whip that my love made for you. Unfortunately, the police took THAT whip, but I bought one that I think you'll like VERY much. It even has little pieces of metal in it! This whip will tear your back up ten times worse than the other one did! And after that, I'll take this little shockwave thing, stick it in the water, then take it out, making it shock you every time, making you squirm like a worm on a hook. Then after that, I'll kill you! But that won't be for a LONG while!" Alen laughed. "Well then, shall we get started?"  
Ryo's head snapped back as the whip made contact with his newly-healed back. Ryo bit his bottom lip trying to stifle his cries; he hated giving Alen the pleasure of hearing him cry out. But he knew he would be, soon. The whip made contact again, and again, and again; the whip tore up his back.   
Ryo was soon screaming as the whip kept making contact on his back. But Ryo wasn't thinking about Alen, he was thinking about Rowen, wondering what had happened to him, and if he was all right. Oh god, he hoped he was all right! His body was shaking with pain as Alen's whipping continued on. His back was already slick with his own blood.   
*****   
Rowen woke up, feeling very cold. He then realized that he was laying on a sidewalk. He pushed himself up onto his knees. He held his head for a while, trying to remember what had happened; he remembered hearing Ryo make some kind of noise, and when he turned around something hit him hard in the head.. "RYO!" Rowen quickly looked around; there was no sign of him. "RYO! RYO, WHERE ARE YOU!" Rowen yelled and got no answer.   
He started to stand and wished he hadn't as a splitting headache came crashing through him. Rowen gently touched his forehead to feel the dry blood plastered to his face. He groaned, then forced himself to stand up. He had to get back to Sage's house; Ryo was obviously in trouble! Rowen got up and started to run towards Sage's house; he didn't even know how long he had been out! But he did know he needed help.   
Sage walked back slowly back to the house; he just couldn't take that girl anymore! That, and he had had a very uneasy feeling ever since Ryo and Rowen had left. He told himself it was just in his head, but he still couldn't chase the feeling away. He figured he'd call them and make up some stupid excuse of Ryo forgetting something. He was about to reach the door when Rowen came running up.  
"SAGE, SAGE!"  
"Rowen, what's wrong?" Sage saw the blood on his forehead. "ROWEN, you're hurt! WHAT HAPPENED!"  
"FORGET ME! ...I can't... find RYO! ...I think... something... has happened... to HIM!" Rowen said, trying to get some air into his lungs.  
"WHAT? What happened!! Who attacked you?"  
Rowen looked down. "I dunno... you think it was that Alen dude?" Both Sage and Rowen remain quiet for a second, both dreading the thought of it being Alen.  
"We've got to find my DAD! 'Cause he might be able to STOP Alen... Alen is, after all, human! Even though he doesn't act like it. We can't destroy him! Come on!" Sage ran into the house with Rowen right on his tail. Sage immediately picked up the phone and called his dad; he explained some stuff, then hung up. "Come on; we may not be able to kill this guy, but we can CERTAINLY hurt him!" Rowen nodded and headed out the door; Sage followed.   
*****   
Ryo screamed again and again, his voice growing hoarse. He felt himself getting weaker and weaker as he kept losing more blood. The whipping suddenly stopped; it took Ryo a minute to realize the pain had stopped and was now only a throbbing pain. Alen laughed.  
"Now here comes the SHOCKING part." Alen picked up a little box with two fork-like things on the top. He pressed the bottom and little lightning bolts lit up between the two fork-like things. "This might hurt, a LITTLE." Alen jammed the top of the box into the water; Ryo screamed as the electricity ran through his body and then he passed out. "Did you not like that? Would you like another one? They're quite fun, are they not?" Alen stuck the box thing in the water again, waking him up; Ryo screamed again.  
Sage ran up and kicked Alen in the face, then caught the box-like thing before it fell into the water. Rowen climbed up the tree and pulled Ryo (who was out cold again) up, then untied him. Sage helped Rowen lower him down.  
"How is he?" Rowen asked as he jumped down from the tree.  
Sage laid Ryo down as gently as possible. "Not good, in fact he's barely alive!"  
"What do we do? We're too far away from the house!"  
Sage bit his bottom lip. "I... I don't know if we can... do anything!"  
"We... we have to do SOMETHING! He's DYING!!" Rowen looked at Ryo's face; it was strained.  
"I... I know!" Sage looked away from Ryo, not being able to look at him anymore.  
Rowen shook his head back and forth. "NO! HE CAN'T DIE! We've been through too much for him to die now by the hands..."  
Alen slowly got up; he reached behind him and slowly took out the gun that was tucked inside his pants. He started to aim the gun at Rowen's head, but before he could shoot two other shouts came from the woods.  
Sage twirled around just in time to see Alen fall to the ground, dead. Sage looked around and saw his dad step out of the shadow of the trees. His dad ran to Ryo's side and checked his pulse. Two other officers ran out of the woods, then two paramedics carrying a stretcher. They immediately put Ryo on it and trotted off back towards the road.   
Rowen looked up at Mr. Date. "Mr. Date...?" Rowen asked, but then left the question at that.  
"I don't know, Rowen. I don't, Rowen." Mr. Date kept staring at where Ryo was carried off. "Come on, I'll take you to the hospital."   
*****   
Kento stretched, then turned around on his bed; he hadn't been able to sleep at all! He looked at the clock; it was twelve thirty-one and he had school tomorrow. His phone suddenly rang, making him jump out of his wits. He pushed some clothes off his phone and answered it. "Hello?" he said in a groggy voice.  
"K.. Kento? Ah..." came Rowen's voice from the phone.  
"Rowen? Rowen, is that you? Man, why you calling so late?"  
"Kento, we're in the hospital..."  
"WHAT, WHY!!" Kento sat straight up in his bed.  
"Ryo..."  
"WHAT, WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM!! ROWEN! ROWEN, TELL ME!"  
"Alen got him..."  
"What? ...Alen? ...He's... he's all right... right?" There was no sound from the other line at first. Kento felt numb.  
"He's... he's dying!" Rowen finally said. Kento couldn't move. "They're trying to save him... but... oh, god! He's so... messed up!"  
Kento couldn't do anything but sit there and breathe; finally he worked up enough of his voice to say, "I'll be there as soon as I can." Kento hung up the phone, face blank.   
Kento felt an arm go around his shoulders and he looked over to see his mother sitting on the bed beside him; Kento immediately feel into her embrace. He just couldn't imagine what would happen if Ryo died. He let his mom hold him as a mother cradled a sick child before he pulled away. "Can you drive me down to the hospital?"   
Mama Fuan nodded and stood up and walked out the door to go get dressed into her street clothes and out of her PJs. Kento just sat there for a second, then quickly got dressed and ran downstairs to meet his mom.   
*****   
Cye was laying down in his bed; he couldn't sleep, so he decided to get a drink of water. He stood up and stretched, then walked to the bathroom. He was pouring his glass of water when he heard the phone ring. Cye frowned and looked at the clock; it was WAY too late for someone to be calling. The ringing stopped, and Cye figured his mom or sister had gotten it.  
"CYE!! Telephone!!" came his sister's voice. "It's Sage, and he seems upset!"  
Cye froze, then quickly ran and grabbed the phone. "Hello?"  
"Cye? We need you down here at the hospital, Ryo's really..." Cye could hear Sage taking deep breaths, and he remained quiet, waiting for him to continue. "Alen got him... he's... he's not doing well at all."  
Cye couldn't move, his body felt dead. Ryo? In the hospital, dying? Ryo? Cye forced himself to say something, ANYTHING! "How? ...Why? I'll be right down!" Cye quickly hung up the phone, then ran upstairs and opened his sister's door. "Can you give me a ride to the hospital?"  
His sister sat straight up. "Why, Cye..."  
"PLEASE!"  
"All right, calm down, go get dressed and meet me downstairs." Cye ran off before she could say anything else. His sister sighed, then got dressed as well then went into their mom's room. "Mom, I've got to take Cye out for a while, okay?"  
"All right, honey, just be careful!" her mom said, then fell back asleep.  
Cye's sister quickly went downstairs where Cye was waiting; she grabbed the keys then followed Cye out the door.   
*****   
Sage sat in the waiting room with his knees pulled up to his chest and his head resting on his knees. Rowen was pacing; he would go to the drinking fountain, get a drink, then sit down, then go to the drinking fountain get a drink, and so on. He was driving Sage NUTS! Mr. Date was trying to work through some legal problems, and Mrs. Date was busy.   
Kento came running through the double doors with Cye right on his tail. "How is he?" Kento asked, and at the same time Cye asked, "Is he all right?"  
Sage stood up, and took a step forward. "We don't know yet." He then sighed heavily and sat back down. Rowen sat down as well. Kento and Cye paced and asked some more questions, then sat down as well.  
Kento watched as the clock slowly ticked by. No one was saying anything! Mr. Date would show up for a couple of seconds, then disappear again.   
At about eleven-thirty Kento stood up. "I'm going to go on down to the lunchroom and get something to eat, anyone want anything?" Cye and Sage shook their heads no. He looked at Rowen and sighed when he saw that Rowen was fast asleep. Kento then walked to the elevator and pressed the button for the second floor.  
Sage sat up a little more and looked at Cye. "You okay?" Cye nodded but kept looking at the window. "You sure?"  
"I'm not the one you should worry about right now," Cye responded, looking at Sage.  
"Well, I can be worried about two people!" Sage responded.  
Cye smiled a little, then looked at the door sadly. "Sage... I... what would... WHAT IF HE DIES?!"  
Sage stayed quiet for a while. "I dunno... I guess we would have to deal with that then... but Ryo's strong! He'll survive, I KNOW he will!"  
Mrs. Date walked through the door and Sage and Cye both sat up more. "Mom?" Sage then started to shake Rowen. "Rowen, WAKE UP...!" Rowen didn't respond. "ROWEN, WAKE UP!!"   
Rowen JUMPED and glared at Sage. "What?" Sage pointed to his mom, and Rowen then stayed quiet.  
"Boys, where's Kento?" Mrs. Date asked.  
"He went down to get some food. You know Kento! So, how's Ryo?" Cye asked.  
Mrs. Date smiled. "Ryo's not doing... as well... as I hoped!"  
Sage stood up. "MOM? He's going to be all right, right?!"  
"I don't know, honey! He really isn't doing well! His back is partially gone! I can CLEARLY see ALL the bones in his back! We're having a hard time stopping the bleeding! As for the bolts of electricity, well, if that was all we could easily take that! But it's making him NOT heal very well at ALL! He's dying! We're doing our best, we really are, honey... but I don't know, I really don't know!" 


	5. Chapter 4

"The Legend of the Solar Whip"  
By Wildfire   
Chapter Four   
  
Sage sat next to Ryo's bed; he had survived, but he wasn't waking up. It had been four days since they had brought him in, and Ryo still had made no signs of waking up. All of them had come and visited him whenever they could, but right now Sage was the only one in there.   
"Oh man, Ryo... please wake up!" Sage said, staring at Ryo, but Ryo didn't move at all. "Oh god, Ryo, you've got to wake up!! Mom says you'll probably survive if you just wake UP! PLEASE!" Ryo still didn't move. A tear ran down Sage's face; he hated seeing Ryo like this. He looked up as him mom walked through the door.   
"Oh, Sage, you're still here? Haven't you eaten anything yet?" She walked over to him and lifted his head.   
"I shouldn't have let him go, Mom! I had a bad feeling... and I just ignored it! I KNEW something was wrong!" Sage said, then turned his head away from his mom and back to Ryo.   
"Sage, honey, there's no way you could have known, honey! You can't blame yourself for this; if anything, you saved him," she said as she brushed his hair out of his eye   
"Does that mean he'll live?" Sage asked, looking up hopefully.   
"Oh, honey, I don't know! He might! But he's very hurt! But we should know in a couple days! All right?"   
Sage sighed, then looked at Ryo. "He CAN'T die!! He can't!"   
"I know... I know! So, where the other boys? They're always here!"   
"They'll be here soon, they just had to go out for a while!" Sage said, looking at Ryo again. "He looks so lifeless, and helpless... Ryo's NEVER been helpless before!"   
Mrs. Date went over to the machine, checked some things and wrote them down, put a hand on Sage's shoulder for a second, and then she walked out.   
Sage didn't know how long he had sat there staring at Ryo when the door opened and Rowen walked in. "How is he?" Rowen asked as he took a seat on the other side of Ryo   
"Same as always! Lifeless! Doesn't even move his fingers! Just lays there!" Sage looked at Rowen for a second, then looked out the window   
Rowen sighed hard. "Where's Cye, and Kento? I thought they'd be here way before me!"   
"Kento had to pick up Chieko from the airport... she got back today. I guess it been all that Chan has been talking about... Cye needed to stay with his mom and help her out... they'll be in later."   
"Oh, yeah, I forgot Canny was coming back today... she's about seven, right?" Rowen asked.   
"Yeah, I think so... I don't see how Kento can take care of them ALL," Sage said. "I can barely stand my little sis! I can't imagine taking care of FOUR!!"   
Rowen looked down at Ryo's still form. "I wish he would wake up... I feel so guilty! I heard the guy coming... and I ignored it! ...I've become a awful warrior... a lazy one!"   
"We all have! ...Ever since our last fight we've grown lazy!" Sage said, looking from the window to Ryo, then back at the window. "Except for Ryo... he didn't grow lazy! But he NEVER DOES!"   
* * * * *   
Daller walked past the hospital, smiling, then waved his hand and a man appeared. The man looked identical to Allen, even down to his very eyes.   
"Okay, you are now known as Allen, you are supposedly dead... you are here to scare Wildfire, and keep an eye on Solar... understand?" Daller asked the man.   
The man nodded, then walked away. Daller smiled big. "This is going to be fun!"   
* * * * *   
Chessica walked slowly down the street, her head down. She had just gotten out of some counseling thing she was forced to go to... she hated it!   
"Hey, cutie," came the low voice of a man.   
Chessica quickly looked up and saw a very tall man with dark brown hair. "Oh, hi, Daller. What are you doing down here?"   
"Oh, nothing, just been wandering about! I saw ya and thought I'd say hi... so how's the family thing going? They any better?" Daller asked her, smiling as her face went even sadder.   
"No, they only talk about that Ryo kid... I don't know what's wrong with him, but it's getting old!"   
"Ryo? Ryo Sanada?" Daller asked, still smiling.   
"Yeah... do you know him, Daller?" Chessica asked, looking up at him.   
"Yeah, he's a real jerk if you ask me! I heard he hits girls too!" Daller said, watching her every move.   
"He hits girls? He seemed so... nice!" Chessica said, looking shocked.   
"That's how it starts... he's really nice, then when you won't go with him he'll hit you. He gets quite violent from what I hear! I'd stay away from him!!" Daller told her, setting a hand on her shoulder. "What are you doing out this late, anyway? It's almost eight! This city isn't safe! Come on, I'll walk you home!"   
Chessica smiled at him. "Thanks!"   
Daller took Chessica's arm and guided her towards the house.   
* * * * *   
Rowen walked slowly back home; he felt awful. He looked up at the sky, wondering what was going to happen. Rowen suddenly whirled around and saw about a hundred Dynasty soldiers growling at him, ready to attack. Rowen immediately put on his subarmor and bashed one of the Dynasty soldiers in the face. He turned around and kick one in the face, knocking the helmet off of him.   
A Dynasty soldier kicked Rowen back into a tree; he grunted as the tree broke. He slowly stood up and started to fight again, but there were too many of them and he was quickly overpowered. Rowen fell to the ground, gasping for breath. "This is it... I'm going to die!"   
He closed his eyes, but nothing happened. He opened them and the Dynasty soldiers were gone and he was alone. Rowen slowly stood up, still looking around. "What was that all about?" He quickly got up and ran towards his house, needing to call one of the guys.   
* * * * *   
Tina had packed her bags and was looking out the window. She had to see Cye again; she had to know if what she felt was the same thing he felt, or if he thought she was just another girlfriend. She looked down at her train ticket; she would have to leave soon. She had left a note for Brittany and Chi Chi, telling them where she had gone and why.   
There was only one thing left to pack, her little puppy, Niou. She had only got him a couple of days ago, and so far he had chewed up her favorite slippers, popped a hole in her air chair, and broke tons of other things. But he was still a cutie. She gently picked him up off the bed - he was black with a brown face - and she put him in a kennel so she could take him on the train.   
* * * * *   
He stood there alone in the dark, just watching a glimpse of light up ahead of him. He could hear a voice. They were crying over him. Ryo bit his lip, trying to decide what he wanted to do. If he went back, he would wake to that awful feeling of pain and torment of his terribly abused body. But if he died, he would leave all of his friends behind with the burden of pain of missing him.   
He could hear a voice; it sounded like Sage's. He was begging him not to die, to wake up. But it was so hard for him! He was tired of pain! Tired of fighting! What was the use?   
He suddenly felt selfish. He couldn't leave them! He was their friend, their leader! Without him, or any of them, evil could spread to the world and destroy it! He wanted to wake up! The problem was, he wasn't sure how.   
* * * * *   
Rowen ran as fast as he could, heading for home. Several thoughts were running wildly through his head. Why had the Dynasty soldiers suddenly appeared and attacked? And why had they suddenly left him alone without killing him when they had the chance? It didn't make any sense to him at all. Unless... unless they were only keeping him busy while something else was happening elsewhere! The more he thought about it, the more he felt as if something terrible was about to happen. He began to run faster, desperate to get home as fast as he could.   
* * * * *   
Kento sat in an airport chair. His sister's plane was two hours late, and still not here. He was tired of waiting. He waited to go back to the hospital, he wanted to see Ryo. But he did promise his parents that he would pick Chieko up. Kento tapped his foot in an annoyed way and shoved another chip into his mouth.   
"Flight two-seventeen is now arriving," Kento heard some lady say on the loudspeaker. He sighed and stood up. That was Chieko's flight, and it came not a moment to soon.   
A little girl, with big curls in her hair, came running down the hall and jumped into Kento's arms. "I missed ya, you big oaf!" the young girl shouted. "How's Chun? You still calling her Chan?"   
"Yes, I am... come on, let's go get your stuff and take ya home," Kento said, setting the little girl down.   
* * * * *   
Sage bit his lip as tears streamed down his face. He was really frightened that Ryo would die soon, and he felt as if his entire world were crashing down on him all at once. What would they do if they lost him? He closed his eyes, not wanting to believe that Ryo would die, but he kept seeing those awful images of Ryo's funeral, everyone dressed in black as he laid in that coffin, tears on every face as they said goodbye.   
He suddenly thought he heard a voice, saying that he had been lost, and snapped his eyes open in a panic. When he saw Ryo still lying still on the bed, and no one else, he became relieved a little. Ryo was still there, and that voice had only been his imagination. Wait, what was that? Was that movement? Sage looked closer at Ryo, studying his fingers closely, waiting, holding his breath. Long moments passed by... nothing happened.   
He let out a disappointed sigh and continued to watch. Sage started to sing quietly to himself. "I never knew how much you meant to me until that very day. I always used to look at you, never knew how much pain you've had. I'd give anything to take it all away. I'd do anything to make you feel better. I don't want you to leave, you're like a brother to me."   
A tear trickled down Sage's face and fell right on Ryo's forehead; the warrior of light collapsed to his knees beside Ryo's bed and cried softly. 


	6. Chapter 5

OK side note: This has not been corrected all the way so please don't tell me it's got mistakes... I know.. it well be correct though a lot of people were saying they wanted to see it so here it is  
  
  
  
Chapter Five  
The Legend of the Solar Whip  
By Wildfire  
  
  
Ryo lay motionless on the hospital bed, Rowen sat next to him watching his chest rise and fall. At the moment he was the only one there with Ryo. His mind kept going back to those few weeks where they all seemed to hate Ryo, even now when he looks back he can't see why they were so mean to him. They should have seen something was wrong with him. They should have known Ryo wouldn't just blow them off like that.  
Ryo moans a little in his sleep, and Rowen jumps up. He hopes against hope that Ryo would wake up. He watches him closely and soon Ryo's eyes start to flicker open.   
Rowen sighs in relief "Hey.."  
"Wh... where am I?" Ryo asks, his voice shaky and strained. He looks around a little, trying to get his eyes to focus something, anything.  
"The hospital..." Rowen told him gently and press's the button for the nurse.  
"Why?"   
"Alen.. found you..." He tells Ryo in a soft voice.  
Ryo nodes a little and looks around again "where is everyone?"  
"out... they'll be here soon though... really soon when they found out you've woken up..."  
Ryo nodes again, as soon slips back into dreamless sleep.  
  
***  
  
~Two days later~  
  
Kento sits in his History class, tapping his pencil on the desk. He really hadn't been listening to anything that had been said, he wanted to go home. Ryo has the possibility of being released today and he wanted to be there when they found out. He had been doing much better, he was starting to be able to stay awake for longer than five minuets now.   
Kento sighs and looks at his watch again, twelve thirty-two he still had ten minuets to go and than he had to go to lunch and after lunch he only had three more periods than he could go home, do his chores and go see Ryo. He looks over at the long haired girl, Chessica, she had started school today, and she seemed to be as popular with the boys as Sage was with the girls.   
"Mr Rei Funn?" The female teacher suddenly said, Kento looks up at her "Well you please continue the reading?"  
Kento looks down blankly at his book "amm where are we?"  
"Miss Aida well you please show Mr Rei Funn where we are?" The teacher asks the girl, the girl was the same that Kento had seen staring at him, in the lunch room.  
The girl jumps a little and blushes at Kento her short, black, hair framing her face. She leans over and turns a couple of pages on Kento's book than points to a spot.  
"Thanks..."Kento mumbles at her, feeling a little stupid for spacing out like that.  
"You may start now Mr Rei Funn!" The teachers eyes showed anger and frustration.  
Nodding, Kento starts to read, once in a while looking over at the short haired girl.  
After class Kento quickly grabs his books and heads for the door, not even noticing a peace of paper he had dropped.  
  
Kento walks into the lunch room and finds Rowen talking on Sage's cell phone, "any news?"  
Rowen waves at him with his hand than plugs his ear, "ahh huh... yes.. no... died... when he was little... yes... of course... actually me and my dad.... amm hm... of course... Yeah I understand.... not at all... ok than... bye" He hangs the phone up and sets it on the table.  
"what the heck was all that about?" Kento asks, "and where is everyone else?"  
"Getting there food... like you usually do... that was the hospital, they're going to release Ryo today, I need to have my dad go over there after school and pick him up, I guess he's been awake most of the day."  
"That's good... right?" Kento looks around wondering what was taking the others so long.  
Rowen laughs a little "yes Kento that's a good thing... people shouldn't sleep forever... Go get your food Kento.. the lines are starting to get long!"  
Kento nods and turns to go up to the lunch lines than stops "hey Ro... we ever find any thing out about those Dynasty solders that attacked you?"  
"No... they just came and left... for no reason that I can see... maybe they're just playing with us... maybe I imagined it all... I dono..." Rowen says and sighs heavily that was actually bugging him, and he wasn't sure what it meant.  
Kento nods again and walks up to the lunch lines at the same time that the others walk to the table.  
Sage tosses a bag of chips at Rowen and sits down holding his own bag of chips and a cookie. Cye sits down with a thing of fries and a slice of cheese cake.  
"Hey Ro.. so what's the news?" Sage says opening his bag of chips and eating one.  
"He's being released..." Rowen says smiling.  
"Ohh thank goodness..." Cye sighs in relief, he really didn't like the hospital and was glad to see Ryo leaving  
"Ohh not again.." Rowen gestures over to a wall were a big kid all dressed in black was holding a smaller boy against the wall.  
"That Drake.. again?" Sage asks already standing up.  
"Yes it is.." Cye also stood up, but before they could intervene. Chessica walked up to the guy first. Sage immediately went closer to hear.  
"And who are you to tell me to put this kid down? I need to eat too... why does he get to eat before I do? Are you saying he's better than me?" Drake yells at her.  
Chessica calmly brushes her hair back "yes he is better than you... but that's not the point the point is it's his money and you well not be taking it! So if you could please let him go it would be much appreciated.."  
"And WHO is going to make me little girl? You? HA! I could give you a concision by barley punching you!"  
"So what's stopping you? Or are you scared to fight someone who's about the same size as you?"  
Drake immediately let go of the boy and walked straight up to her. "You saying I'm a chicken?"  
Sage decided it was time to step in, even with the lessons he had been giving Chessica she was no where near ready to fight any one yet. "Drake... you go low enough to hit girls now?"  
Drake whirls around and glares at Sage, but he had lost one to many times to him. He growls and stomps down the hall way, looking for a new victim.  
  
***  
  
Rowen sat by his computer, trying to find the Solar Whip again. He had tried several different ways but hadn't come up with anything. He started to look in the Ronin Warriors sites about the Ancient armers and myths about their armers. Most of the tales were way off from the tale the Ancient had told them, but that didn't matter that wasn't what he was looking for. Rowen sighs and rubs his eyes frustrated and tired, he decided to look into the Wildfire armer real quick because the person had updated on it, he wanted to see if any thing was new. He gasps when he see the Solar Whip on there, and decided he had better read the whole paragraph and see if it was any were else on it.   
And though the Armer of the Wildfire and Inferno is indeed the strongest, it seems to only reach it's peak when the Solar Whip is with it. Threw every legend the bearer of the Wildfire armer and the Inferno armer has always been contacted to the bearer or the Solar Whip. No one is quite sure why this is, but the two magical forces are in some way drawn together. In some tales the two were related as a sibling or a cousin or even a parent. In others they have been lovers or just the best of friends. The Solar whip if often a very large help to the Wildfire armer for the Wildfire armer usually has a tough past, some times he or she may have been royalty (which isn't at all easy) or had an abusive parent or parents. Or the bearer my have seen a violent death of a family member in the past.  
Rowen reread this passage for a few times than printed it out and went back, he had to see if the Solar whip was 'contacted' to anyone else. He clicks on the Halo name and waits tell the screen comes up than scrolls down, until running into the name.  
The Halo armer is usually the one that well attract a person that is self displined and can be calm and rational in fights. However the Halo armer does seem to posses a short temper with the bearer of the Solar whip, in all the stories it talks about the Halo and the Strata armer having the most difficulties with the bearer. Though the Halo armer well never fight against the Solar Whip bearer. No one is sure quite the reason just as no one was sure for the other connection between the armers.   
Rowen looks more on the page but found no more info, he prints that out as well and went to the next name. Strata, he looks that on over and soon discovers it says the same thing as the Halo on did and goes to the Hardrock one. He scrolls down on this page, and has to go to the second page, the owner of this site really liked the Hardrock armer and had the most info on it. He finally finds what he wants at the end of the second page and the beginning of the third.  
The Hardrock is usually a sibling to the bearer of the Solar whip, or acts like an older sibling. The armer bearer usually can get over protective or unrashinal when coming to the Solar Whip bearer. In certain tales these feelings were mistaken for love, but they all ended quickly having neither the Hardrock or Solar Whip bearer happy. Hardrock has a tendency to fall in love with the enemy or a friend from around his or her town that the bearer had never really known before hand, the person may even be a new person that had just moved to his or her town. The new person is usually has something to do with the Moon Spears, I myself do not know or have ever heard of this weapon until now. And like all the other Armer bearers Hardrock well most likely live in his or her own town from birth to death. Though he or she has been known to travel, and stay in another place for a long period of time as a visit but not a home.  
Rowen sigh and prints out what he has. The Solar Whip part wasn't really that long, this person seems to get off the subject a lot when writing. He goes back and clicks on the Torrent name. She didn't have much on the Torrents armer so it wouldn't be hard to find.   
The Torrent bearer will usually be a passive person, but will usually have a good temper when needed. The Torrent armer doesn't usually think much of the bearer of the Solar whip just another fighter. However it is said the that, if all the Armer bearers are female the Solar Whip carrier well be male and if all the armer bearers are male than the Solar Whip carrier well be Female. No one has been able to understand why this is but in every story it has been the same. The Torrent bearer is never in the middle either, the bearer is either the oldest of the group or the youngest. Just like the Strata armer. The Torrent bearer well usually not want to fight as well.  
Rowen stopped reading there and printed that out, the site owner jumped around a little to much for his liking. But now he at least knew the carrier was going to be female and Kento was going to like her and Sage and him wouldn't and Cye wouldn't care. Ryo would either be good friends with this person or more, that is unless he had a long loss sister that none of them knew about. He smiles looking over the page once more, it amazed him people would have sites about their armers. He often wondered what would happen if they found out the armers were not only real but in use again. He was about to call Sage when he looks at his watch and nearly curses he was suppose to be at the hospital to pick Ryo up half an hour ago, he quickly sign's off the Internet and grabs his coat and runs out the door.  
  
***  
  
Ryo sits in a wheel chair tapping his fingers on the arm rest, they had taken him down to the lobby to wait for Rowen and he still hadn't shown up. It wasn't like Rowen to be late (unless for school) and he was starting to get worried.   
Rowen bursted threw the doors and sighs in relief when he see's Ryo sitting there. "I'm so sorry! I lost track of time..."  
"What are those?" Ryo gestures to the papers Rowen held in his hand. Rowen looks down he had completely forgot he even still had these he had run from the house so fast.  
"Info on that Solar whip thing," Rowen smiles a cooky grin at him "sounds like you may fall in LOVE!"  
Ryo snatched the papers away with his good arm and started to thumb there them "nah, you got these from that site that is obsessed with me didn't you?"  
"On the contrary I got these on the site that loves the Hardrock armer I didn't even go to the Wildfire web site.... maybe I should though" Ryo sets a small glare at him and Rowen laughs, "Let's get you home..."  
"How come you dad couldn't pick me up?" Ryo asks looking up.  
"Well when I called him he said he was sorry he had forgotten and had meetings all day..." Rowen looks down at the wheel chair and sighs "I guess you get a ride and I get to push!"  
Ryo yawns and looks at him "so start pushing!" And Rowen did, though a little too fast for Ryo.  
  
***  
  
Cye grabs another pot and sets it in the, burner and takes another one out and places it in front of his mother along with three others. "hey mom don't you think you've MADE enough pots today... perhaps you should start panting them now?"  
"Just one more dear, I haven't done this in so LONG. Can you get me that block of clay?" She knew he would of course, he would do any thing to make her happy. "And than perhaps you can go play with your friends? How is Ryo doing? Ok?"  
Cye goes over and grabs the clay and sets it on the spinning wheal. "Ryo's doing much better, he's leaving the hospital today and is going to Rowen's he'll be staying there for a while."  
"Ohh, Rowen's such a sweety I'm sure Ryo well be in good hands... Is Rowen's father going to be there more to help take care of Ryo?"  
"Not likely Rowen well do it him self, with our help..." Cye told her watching and waiting.  
His mom smiles a little "Ohh of course, but it really is to bad that his father doesn't spend much time with him... he's missing time he'll never be able to get back." She was about to go on when the door bell rang.  
"I'll get it.. and don't lift any thing!" Cye says as he hurries up the stairs, he opens the door to find Tina standing there smiling.  
"Hi Cye.. I was in town... I thought I ... may stop by... how are you?" She says in uncertain voice as Cye stood there shocked.  
He quickly got a hold of him self though "I.. I'm good and you?"  
"I'm good!" She says quickly and looks down.  
Cye jumps and steps aside quickly "Come in.. come in"   
Tina did and smiles at him. "you have a beautiful house.." Cye blushes bright red and nods.  
Both of them stay quite for a few minuets than Cye straightened up "come on down you can meet my mom... she's really nice.." He than heads back down stairs with Tina right behind him "Mom?"  
"Who was at the door hunny?" Came his mom's response.  
"An old friend I want you to meet her.." Cye smiles at his mom who was already half finish with her pot.  
"Her? Well bring her in Cye!" His mom says with a huge smile on her face.  
He steps aside and Tina steps in, she bows as she comes in "I am honored Mrs. Mouri"  
"well she's just like your friend Sage... there's no need for stuff like that around here.... do you live around here?"  
"No ma'am I live pretty far away actually..."  
"And where are you staying?" Mrs Mouri looks back down at her pot and starts shaping it a little differently than before.  
"I.. I dono yet... I think the hotel in town." Tina says turning a slightly pink in the cheeks.  
Mrs Mouri looks up at her "You don't know where your staying... Well you dear child you can stay here.. we have the room... and I won't take no for an answer!"  
Tina blushes more and nods "But I have a puppy..."  
"Ohh what kind? I personally would love to have a dog... but I just couldn't take care of it.." Came his mom's reply.  
"Ohh he's a trouble maker that's for sure.." Tina laughs a little "But I'll take care of him and I'll pay for my way.."  
"OHH nonsense you well not be PAYING me anything.. your payment can be to let my play with your puppy!"  
Cye blushes a little watching the two talk. This is going to be interesting, was the only thing he could think of. Though he knew his mom would offer her house to any one, she was so trusting and willing to give even if she couldn't give. But he could always use the extra help, especially now that his sister was always out and about some where.  
"Cye.. CYE?" His mom says looking at him.  
Cye jumps "yeah?"  
Mrs Mouri laughs "go help your friend bring her stuff in!"  
He looks around and realizes she's not there any more and hurries up the stairs.  
  
***  
  
Sage sits at his kitchen table slowly picking at his food, Rowen was suppose to call when him and Ryo were home.   
Chessica walks in threw the door and looks at him "what's your problem?"  
"I'm tired... and I want to go see my friend but I don't know if he's home yet..." Sage say looking up at her.  
"So why don't you call them and find out?" She says 'duh' voice.  
"Because, they need to figure things out and I dono.. I just can't... Ro said he'd call me and he well!"   
Chessica sits down and smiles at him "Tell me how long have you known these four friends of yours?"  
"I've known Rowen sense I was thirteen and I meet the rest of the guys at about fourteen, but it feels like we've been friends for so much longer..." Sage smiles a little to him self.  
"Can.. can I ask you something?" She says carefully.   
Sage looks at her, "yeah of course..."  
"What's Ryo really like? I mean is he mean or something?"  
"Ryo? Well he has a bad temper but he's the best friend you could have... he's the kind of guy that would give his life for a stranger at any time.... and if he's your friend.." Sage smiles and shakes his head "He's the best friend you could have, and he cares a lot. He would never turn his back on you... and if it looks like he is, it's most likely to protect you. I just wish I remembered that before!"  
"What happened to him?" Chessica asks looking a little concerned.  
"His foster family was abusive, and he wouldn't fight back for other reasons." Sage says with a little sigh escaping threw his mouth.  
"Ohh, Sage... do you know a guy named Daller?" She asks wondering what they thought of him.  
Sage looks at her sharply "WHO?"  
She jumps her eyes wide "Daller.. he seems to know you guys and not like you... I just wanted to.."  
He cut her off "Tall guy? Black hair?" She nods and he curses. "Chessica what has he been telling you?"  
"nothing much, just little things. He doesn't really like you guys..."  
"No.. I'm sure he doesn't! Listen you HAVE to stay away from him.... he's dangerous..." Sage's eyes were fully of worry, confusing and concern.  
Chessica stands up "Listen, just because YOU don't like him doesn't mean I can't... he's nice to me.. and he's helping me out a lot. He's even going to help me find my past! He wants me to come live with him... and I almost have... twice! But I wanted to know what you think of him first! And now that I know it's just pety guys fighting... it won't matter!"  
"Chessica NO, this is much worst that pety guy, grudges! This guy is dangerous.. and I don't know WHY he wants you but you have to stay away from him... you understand?"  
"NO! You can NOT tell me what to do!" With that she ran out the door, in anger.  
Sage was about the follow when the phone rang he picks it up and is relived to hear Rowen's voice, now they really had to talk.  
  
***  
  
Alex sat looking down at there motionless 'master' Trots. Daller appears behind him.  
"Has she moved yet?" Daller asks in a low voice.  
"No... perhaps she'll die?" Alex turns around a looks at him "I suppose if that happens you'll take control?"  
"Well Of course.. neither you or Ryan could handle such a thing! I've already done all the work so far... now continue taking care of her!"  
"What about the whip?" Alex asks quickly before Daller can leave.  
"The Solar whip? Well it's as good as ours.. The bearer I have found and I have it wrapped around my finger..."  
"Is the bearer male or female and our you sure you have the right one?"  
"It's a female, and she is hot! And I'm POSITIVE it's the right one... she matches perfect and she was falling for Wildfire.. but I put a quick stop to that!" Daller chuckles a little to him self.  
"Don't be to cooky Daller... she may still... she has in the past every time... I doubt you can keep them apart..." Alex says not at all sounding impressed.   
Daller growls "I KNOW what I am doing! And Solar well be on our side soon! She is lost in her own thoughts and actions... in fact she's so lost she even thought she was falling for Hardrock for a while! I nearly laughed right at her face for that one... Ohh and I'm thinking the Moon Spears are going to start coming in attention with the Solar Whip..."  
Alex sneers "Those weapons are just disgusting! And they'll usually pick some poor girl that's just sweet as a button! I had those things! At LEAST the Solar Whip picks some one with a back bone!"  
"Yes but the Solar whip well also pick people so pretty or handsome it makes it quite hard to kill them if your the opposite sex... But if need be I well do it! I well not have the Ronin's get either the Solar Whip nor the Moon Spears! They well belong to the Dynasty or they well not be used at all!" Daller says and looks down at Trots and sneers again "and I plain on having Wildfire dead before she wakes up! She has grown to obsessed with him... and isn't thinking of the bigger battle!"  
Alex smiles "of course... but if you can kill one Ronin why not kill them all?"  
Daller pierces Alex with a nasty glare than disappears.  
  
***  
  
Cye walks up his stairs and gently knocks on a door.  
Tina quickly gets up and opens it with a smiles "Yeah?"  
"Do you need anything?" He asks quietly  
"Nope I'm good just putting some stuff away..." She says as the little puppy slips threw her and the door and runs for the stairs.  
Cye grabs the puppy by the musk of it's neck than gently picks it up "This the rascal?" He gently tickles the puppy's tummy and got a nipped in the finger for it, but he just laughs.  
"Yeah this is Niou he chews on everything.." She says and sighs  
"So get him a toy!" Cye says with a laugh.  
"hmm I have, he tears the stuffing out of them! Than goes back to chairs and stuff!" She says a little in defense.  
"So don't get him THAT kind of a toy get the rubber kind or the tug of war ones... and maybe a bone..." Cye says still playing with the puppy in his arms. "I can take you out to buy them if you want.. my mom doesn't care if I drive.."  
Tina was about to say no and take her puppy but decided against it and nods "yeah I'd like that.. Hey Cye.. is there something wrong with your mom? Like you seem to fuss over her... and stuff.."   
Cye smiles a little and looks up at Tina "she has a heart problem... and needs to be watched..." He hands the puppy back. "Come and get me when you want to go get those toys.." with the he went back down stairs.  
  
***  
  
Sage sat in Rowen's house reviewing the papers he had found on this whip thing. Ryo was sound asleep on the couch, he had been awake when he had first gotten here but fell asleep soon afterwards. Sage sighs and looks up at Rowen "Are you sure about this stuff?" He says hitting the paper with the back of his hand and looking down at it.  
"Well that site was the most accurate of all the Mystical Armer sites.... and it's not like that was the first time I read something on the Solar Whip just the first time I read something that had the Solar Whip and us in it..." Rowen says with a yawn than gets up and heads into the kitchen "you thirsty?"  
"I'll take a tea" Sage says in an absent voice "Hey Rowen what's this Moon Spears stuff?"  
"Not quite sure that's my next mystery after this one..." Rowen comes in and hands Sage his tea. "Do you think we know who it is?"  
Sage laughs a little "no... but I well... it well just take me a few days to figure out which girls hang all over me.. that are really annoying and annoy the hell out of me... and if she annoys the hell out of you, and Kento and Ryo like her and Cye won't care... well than we'll have our girl won't we?"  
"Sage... EVERY girl in our school hangs all over you! How are you going to find just one? And how do you know she well even go to our school? I mean we can't even be sure that information is all right... it may be a male we're looking for and the site owner got it wrong! It could be US that like her and Ryo and Kento that don't! Information can get screwed up..." Rowen sips on his juice a little and sighs. "I dono Sage... but if this whip thing does start..than that means fighting well be starting afterwards! And it couldn't be worse timing!" He looks at Ryo and sighs again "we have a leader that's temporally out of it!"  
"yeah.. and we all know what well happen if we lose a fight cause he can't fight..."  
"Guilt trip", they both say at the same time and smile at each other. They both turn around when a scratching is heard at the door.  
Rowen frowns "that's funny.. there are no animals allowed in this building..." he stands up and opens the door and White Blaze trots in and promptly lays down by Ryo, not even bothering to look at the other two Ronin's.  
"Should have known it was him... he would never leave Ryo for to long" Sage smiles and sips his tea, Rowen goes over and sits next to White Blaze and gently scratches his ear.  
"Hey Sage... do you know of any other sites about the Mystical armers that has correct info? I want a second on this information... it's hard to trust just one site..."   
"Not really... they all have there bad points... but if I were you just start checking them all.. if enough say the same thing, well than it must be true! It's common seance." Sage sips on his tea again, thumbing threw the papers.  
"Well that is unless they all copied each other! Than they well all be the same.. but not absolutely true... you see what I mean?" Rowen looks at him, and raises an eye brow like it was common sense.  
"Yeah I know what your saying... I dono... start checking fast before they have time to copy each other, that may work? Or you could try looking up these Moon Spears things.. I'm sure they're contacted to the Solar Whip... you may be able to get info for them and this... kill two birds with one stone!" Sage says hopefully, Rowen had a way, of always finding a way to turn down ideas for logical reasons that he never saw tell Rowen told him of them.  
Rowen smiles a little "you know it's nearly impossible to actually kill two birds with one stone! But your other idea might just work.. I well try it tonight.."  
Ryo moans in his sleep and his eyes slowly open and look around. Sage and Rowen look at him, waiting.  
  
***  
  
Kento sat doing his math home work and watching his two younger sisters play a video game.  
"YOU CHEATED!" Chieko said standing up and throwing her controller down on the ground.  
Chan stood up just as fast "DID NOT! YOU ARE JUST BAD AT THIS GAME!" Kento smiles to him self, Chan talked much more clearly when she was mad than she ever did when she was calm.  
"Calm down you two... it's just a game! And I don't want ANY fighting today... understand?" Kento said piercing them with his older brother look.  
Chieko crosses her arms "Just because YOUR life has NO meaning doesn't mean WE have to be perfect angels! If you don't like the way your life is going than DON'T blame US!"  
Kento smiles again, "us is it? Alright than Chieko I won't blame you for my boring life!" He thought that was what she was saying. He wasn't quite sure, Chieko sometimes didn't make sense in her arguments.  
"I am NOT saying your life is BORING.. you don't have a life to be BORED with! All YOU do is eat and go 'hang out' with your friends! Your a BUM go get a job why don't you?!" She puts her hands on her hips trying to immediate their mother.  
"You get a job first than I'll get one! I promise! And plus I also practice Kendo... so therefor I do have a life!" Kento smiles and goes back to his math problems.  
"I DO have a job I help MOMMY with the dishes! And she says I do such a good job that she even PAYS me! Fifty cents every day I help!"  
Chan looks at Kento and smiles "She pays Chieko in two coins! I get THREE! Two small ones and a big one!"  
Chieko sighs and puts on her stern face "you get twenty-five cents! I get fifty I get more! Your just to young to understand...maybe some day when your my age you'll understand important stuff like this.. though it's not easy and not everyone can do it! I'm very advanced I can even count beyond one hundred!"  
"Really?" Chan looks quite excited about this "Can you teach me?"  
Kento really didn't hear the rest he was desperately trying to do his math homework but didn't understand any of it, he hated math. He was however surprised when a little girl crawled into his lap with her eyes full of tears. "Chan what's wrong?"  
"Chieko won't teach me how to count to one hundred!!" She than starts to cry, Kento shakes his head and looks around and notices his other little sister was gone. The truth was Chieko may not have really known how to count to one hundred and didn't want her sister to know.  
"Hey calm down, little girl!" He tickles his little sisters stomach, and was rewarded by a laugh "If you really want to learn I can teach you how! But you'll have to wait I really need to finish this math homework..."  
Chan hugs her older brother around the neck than jumps down "OK... I'm going to go play in my room until your ready! Call me when you are! I'll be waiting VERY patently! I promise.. You just call my name and I'll come right down ok? I'll be in my room!"  
Kento nodes and the little girl runs off. He sighs heavily than goes back to his homework again, it was due tomorrow and he wouldn't get a chance to see Rowen before his math class so he had to figure it out him self. He would most likely get them all wrong but at least he tried.  
  
***  
  
  
Chessica walks slowly threw the park, Sage had really gotten mad at her about this whole Daller thing. Is Daller dangerous? What is really going on... no one in school has ever even heard of him... yet he had claimed to go there at one time.. is he lying to me? And if so why... he just seems so nice... why would he lie? Why would he lie to me? Sage seemed really concerned that he wanted me at all... why? I mean that must mean he doesn't go with many girls if Sage was that surprised about me... maybe he's gay? But than why would he want me? These thought ran over and over in Chessica's head, but she couldn't figure anything out. She was starting to wish she hadn't run away from Sage like that though. She turned to head home and ran smack into Daller. "D-daller? What are you doing here?"  
"What your not happy to see me?" Daller smiles a wide smile at her. "I should ask you the same thing... it's getting late. You shouldn't be out this late... it could be dangerous!" His eye seemed to flicker, with something dangerous.  
She watched him as he seemed to be concerned about her, but at the same time there was something in his eyes. Something untold, something hiding, lurking. "I was thinking... Sage and I got in a fight.."  
Daller nods "yeah I hear he has a pretty bad temper or used to.. I hear he used to steal money from younger kids until he got in trouble and was forced to stop." He says while brushing his hair back with his hand.  
"Steal money? But the other day he helped me protect a kid from getting his money stolen.." Chessica starts to notice little things about Daller, a flick of his eye before he said something, the way he brushed his hand threw his hair when he said something that sounded way off. No he was a good liar, just not THAT good, she wanted to hit her self for not seeing it all before.  
"Did he really? Well I'm not surprised like I said ever seance he got in trouble for it, he's tried to prove to everyone that he's a changed person.. if you know what I mean. I however think it's all just an act!"  
"Why.. would you say that? Don't you think people can change? Maybe he has?" She says slowly and carefully.  
Daller laughs "yes people can change but he has TOO much power... and he's a power hungry person... I mean if he would ever find out that you've been talking to me.. he'd flip and say I'm a dangerous person.. and blady blae..." He laughs a little "I was the only person who could match him in combat... and that is one reason why he hates me so much!"  
"Who else knows you at school besides Sage and the guys?" Chessica says quickly.  
Daller frowned at the 'and the guys' statement usually it was 'and the others' or and 'his friends' when referring to the other Ronin's, this statement said she was with them in a way. "Lots of people... Mr Anderson, Tiffany Allison.." He proceed to name off people that she had never heard of. But she made a mental note to find these people and ask about him. 


	7. Chapter 6

"The Legend of the Solar Whip"  
By Wildfire   
Chapter Six   
   
Kento waited, tapping his foot, at the front of the school; Cye stood next to him, and Sage was leaning against the doorframe.   
"Where are they? School's going to be starting in like a minute! And we have an assembly today, and if you come in late to that they really kill YOU!" Kento said while looking at his watch.   
Cye laughed a little. "Well, you know Ro, he probably overslept and Ryo had to pry him out of bed with a crowbar!"   
Sage smiled to himself; things had been going well between Rowen and Ryo, and Ryo was making a great recovery and was actually happy. Ryo wasn't happy often, and he was glad to know he was. "Not to mention that if they got a late start, Ryo still can't run... and that ruins Rowen's usual way of getting to school on time! But they may excuse them because of Ryo's... his... situation," he said carefully and slowly.   
"True... but we may have to go on down... they won't excuse US!" Cye said, looking at his own watch.   
Rowen suddenly ran up to the school, breathing hard; he leaned over and tried to catch his breath. "I'm here..."   
Sage raised his eyebrows at him. "And Ryo is...?"   
Rowen looked up and then back behind him. "He's coming... just slowly..." He straightened up. "We have an assembly today, don't we?"   
"Hai, we do... you guys go on ahead, I'll wait here for Ryo... Ms. Bally is the one that's checking in who's late and not, and she loves me, so I'll be fine..." Sage said, still leaning up against the doorframe, looking quite content.   
Rowen watched him for a second, then nodded. "Yeah... and she hates me! I fact, I think she hates everyone who isn't you, Sage..." With that, he started off into the hall and down to the gym where the assemblies were held.   
"Hey, isn't this the assembly for all the new kids of this semester?" Kento said, not sounding at all pleased.   
"Yep," was all Cye said before following Rowen.   
Kento groaned to himself and mumbled a 'boring', then ran and caught up with Cye.   
Sage smiled; he had no problem missing as much of this assembly as possible. It was the most boring assembly of the year, well, maybe except the recognition assembly, which was equally as boring. Both you had to sit there for hours listening people say their names and stuff no one really listened to; not even the people who were up there ever listened to it.   
He heard the bell signal that everyone should now be in the gym, and if not then you were late and got detention. He looked back out to the road and saw Ryo hobbling over in the distance. Sage pushed off the wall and went to greet him. "Hey, hopalong..."   
Ryo smiled and swung at Sage, who easily avoided the punch. "You're late..."   
Sage smiled and walked along next to him. "So are you..."   
"I have an excuse!"   
"So do I... I had to make sure you got inside... plus, Ms. Bally is the person checking to see who's late and not... and you know she loves me.." He ran his hand through his hair. "Though, who wouldn't... but she won't care about me... you have a better chance of getting detention than I do..."   
Ryo laughed a little. "Yeah... she'll let you off... but not me... I could so see her doing that!"   
"She probably will... she hates you more than anyone else IN this school, I think..."   
"Yeah, and this whole thing with my foster parents will give her one more thing to hate me for!"   
Sage looked at him funny and helped him up the steps of the school. "How do you figure that one?"   
"I dunno... but you KNOW she'll find a reason to!"   
Sage laughed and opened the door to the school. Neither much said anything once in the halls till they reached the gym. Ms. Bally looked at the two, giving Sage a smile and Ryo a frown; she had Sage this year in her English class, and she had Ryo last year for speech, and again this year for English with Sage. "And why are you two late?"   
"I was waiting on Ryo... he can't move too fast because of his injuries..." Sage explained with a smile.   
"Well, it is Mr. Sanada's own job to get himself out of bed early enough for him to get to school."   
"Well, he had to wait on Rowen..." Sage tried to explain.   
"Well, Mr. Hashiba got here on time..."   
"That's 'cause he ran... I couldn't!" Ryo said, taking a step forward.   
"Don't you take that tone of voice with me! Now, what Mr. Date did was out of friendship... you were just lazy! And you know very well I don't reward laziness!"   
"Wait... you can't punish him for what happened to him! He gets up every day at five in the morning! And if you're going to let me off for waiting on Ryo, then you can turn it around and let him off for waiting on Rowen!"   
"Mr. Hashiba was not hurt... and he did not need to wait on him... Mr. Hashiba can get himself to school on his own! Now, Mr. Sanada, you have detention today after school! Next time, wake up early enough, and keep your attitude to yourself! Now, get into that assembly!" With that, Ms. Bally started to write on her clipboard.   
Ryo's eyes went wide, then he looked as if he was going to attack her, but Sage pushed him into the gym. "She treats me SO unfairly!" Ryo said, and looked around to find the guys, then went over and sat next to them; they had picked lower seats so Ryo wouldn't have to climb. "She gave me detention!" he whispered to Kento.   
Rowen leaned over. "Are you serious?!" he said in a low whisper, but loud enough for Ryo and the others to hear.   
"Yeah... but she let Sage off because 'he' was just being a good friend!" Ryo growled and looked at the ground.   
"Relax, man... we'll all wait for you... we always do," Sage said, and patted his shoulder.   
Ryo nodded and sighed; that teacher drove him nuts. She always hated him, and LOOKED for reasons to punish him. He never understood it; he had never done anything to her. Ryo turned his attention to the assembly; they were having each new student come up, say their name, and some stuff about them. Chessica was, of course, up there too.   
* * * * *   
After the assembly, the five guys made their way to their lockers. "I still can't believe she gave you detention!" Kento said with a frown; he had never had Ms. Bally, and hoped he never would.   
"Yeah... and she's likely to give me another day when I get into class because I'm 'missing' so much homework!" Ryo said and sighed.   
"No way... she has to excuse it... and anything else you missed!" Kento said right back.   
"That's true... she has no choice, Ryo... she has to excuse it!" Rowen said, smiling reassuringly at Ryo.   
"She'll find a way to embarrass me in that class, or give me detention... she always does..." Ryo said, grumbling as he reached his locker and started doing the combination.   
Sage smiled. "Don't worry, man... she can't do much..." With that, he walked off to his own locker, as did the others.   
* * * * *   
Drake glared at Sage's back; he hated that kid with all his might, and somehow he would get him back for all the humiliation he had caused him. One way or another, Sage Date would pay.   
* * * * *   
Kento scuffled madly through his backpack, desperately trying to find his homework. He bit his bottom lip and tried to remember what he did with it. He had it in English, that was the place he did it, then he had stuffed it into his backpack and went to History. That was on the day Ryo had been released from the hospital.  
He bit his bottom lip; his teacher was going to kill him if she found out he didn't have it. He pulled out a blank peace of paper and quickly starts wrote stuff on it, hoping he could maybe make the teacher think he had his homework. She never collected it, anyway... maybe, just maybe, he could get away with it.   
* * * * *   
Ryo sat next to Sage in their English class; Ryo wasn't too good at English. It wasn't that it was hard, he just didn't see any reason to learn a second language, not to mention this teacher wouldn't pass him anyway. She was the worst teacher he had ever had; she picked favorites, and although Sage was a wonderful student and did earn his grades, so was he, and Ms. Bally wouldn't give it to him!   
"MR. Sanada, ARE you paying attention?! You'll never understand verbs and nouns if you DO NOT pay attention!" Ms. Balley said, hitting the board with her pointer stick.   
"I am paying attention, ma'am."   
"Are you arguing with me?"   
"No... I was-"   
"Mr. Sanada, unless you want a second day to your detention, I suggest you quiet down and listen!" Ms. Balley glared at him, then went back to her board. "And, Mr. Date, I'd like to see you after class."   
Sage watched Ryo quickly collect his stuff after class and hurry out the door, or more hobble out the door. He turned to the teacher and smiled. "You wanted to see me?"   
"I did... your test grade was lower than usual, and I was worried something is wrong," she said, actually looking concerned.   
"Ummm, no, not really... I guess I've just kind of been out of it lately... I'm sorry..." Sage bowed a little; his grandfather had always taught him to bow to someone if older and speaking to you in a serious manner, it was just respectful.   
"Perhaps it's your friends, then... you were getting a little snotty with me this morning... maybe you should look into finding better, more respectful friends..."   
Sage froze. "Umm, I'm really close to my friends, ma'am, and I can't really just stop being their friends."   
"Well, Sage, sometimes we really have to do things we don't like... these friends are not good for you... they won't help you learn and mature... however, I cannot force you to make a better decision, and this is only one test... but if your test grades continue to decline... I will have to step in. You may leave."   
Sage gathered his stuff and left the room, a little angry at what she had said. He smiled when he saw Ryo leaning against the wall waiting for him.   
"So, what'd she want?" Ryo asked, smiling.   
"To tell me my test grade was lower than usual." He decided to leave out the fact that she was telling him not to be friends with him.   
"You know, it's not fair; she's all nice to you and stuff, but to me she's a monster. You know, sometimes I wish I had a camera so I could turn her in and get her ass fired! She's the worst teacher I have ever had! And if I get her again next year, I'll kill her!"   
Sage laughed a little. "And I don't think anyone would care... Chessica has her for speech this year..."   
"Oh, and what list is she on?" Ryo asked with a sigh.   
"Good... I'm telling you, it's the people that the opposite sex likes that she likes!" Sage said, walking slow so as not to leave Ryo behind.   
"Hmm? what do you mean?"   
"Well, all the girls go for me," he said in an irritated voice, "and all the guys have been going for Chessica... and the other people she likes are either players or sluts... that, again, the other sex, of course, likes!"   
Ryo bit his bottom lip. "Well, Rowen's sorta popular with the girls; why doesn't she like him?"   
"Because he's also brainy, all the other teachers like him as well... and because he stood up for you last year... if you remember, she was never really mean to him till then..." Sage said, and absently waved at some girl that was walking past and giggling.   
"That's true... so, why don't YOU stand up for me when she yells at me for no freaking reason?"   
"Why? Because I'd like to be able to PASS her class!" Sage said with a smile. "Plus, anything I say will just make her hate you more..."   
"True... too true..."   
* * * * *   
Kento sat in his history class tapping his pencil; his teacher in his math class hadn't bought the homework, but she did say she would give him till the end of the day to find it. Though he had no idea WHERE to look.   
"Um, excuse me? Kento-san?"   
Kento's head whipped up and looked at the girl that was always blushing and smiling at him. "Oh, umm, hi..." Kento said desperately, trying to remember her name.   
She bowed, then came up blushing. "I am Aida Tama; I found your paper, you dropped it a few-"   
Kento suddenly grabbed the paper. "YES! OH, thank you so much! I've been looking for this ALL day! Thank you SO much!"   
The girl blushed bright red, then bowed again. "I am glad to have helped." With that she turned around and started going back to her desk.   
"Hey... you want to come to my place for dinner sometime? I mean, my family owns a restaraunt, so... and I think it's pretty good, and everything..." Kento said kinda slowly.   
Tama froze and turned around slowly with bright red cheeks. "Y-you want me... to go out with... you?"   
"Well, I wouldn't say go out... just, you know, dinner... you know, to thank you for finding and returning my paper..." Kento said with a half-smile.   
"I would love to! When?"   
Kento was about to answer, but the teacher interrupted his thought. "Class, please sit down and get quiet. We have a lot of work to do today, and I would like to start on it right away."   
* * * * *   
The final bell rang, signaling school was out for the day; kids hurried out of the school, while others slowly talked, gathering their stuff up. Yet others still slowly walked to the detention room; Ryo Sanada was one of those. Even though his friends had said they would wait for him, he still didn't agree with being here in the first place.   
As he walked into the room, Ms. Bally was there at her desk, glaring at all the students there. "Well, Mr. Sanada, I'm surprised you showed!"   
Ryo bowed, then took his seat and pulled out a book. Drake came into the room next and smiled when he saw Ryo there, thinking maybe detention wouldn't be too boring after all. After this thought, he took a seat right behind Ryo.   
* * * * *   
Sage, Rowen, Cye and Kento all sat in the library waiting for Ryo's detention to get out. Rowen was reading some science textbook, Kento was reading a comic book, and Sage and Cye were playing cards.   
"You know, we really should turn Ms. Bally in to the principal... what she's doing can't be right..." Sage set a card down while saying this to Cye.   
Rowen set his book down. "Hai, I know what you mean. It's not right, the way she treats students she doesn't like! I would know!"   
"Hai, you would, though she doesn't hate you as much as some other students..." Cye reminded him. "She doesn't grade your homework assignments differently..."   
"She would if she thought she could get away with it! But she knows I would turn her in, in a heartbeat, and since all the teachers love me... well, she wouldn't get away with it, and she knows it!" Rowen said with a smile.   
Sage laughed at that. "Too true! Though, I still don't understand why she likes me so much!"   
"We've been through this, man! It's because you're a pretty boy!" Kento said with a smile.   
"I am not a pretty boy! I just happen to care about what I look like!" Sage said with a slight growl.   
"You are too!" Kento and Rowen both said at the same time.   
Sage gave them both a glare, than went back to his book. "How much longer do we have till Ryo's out?"   
Rowen looked at his watch and sighed. "About ten more minutes."   
"Ten minutes?! But I'm hungry!" Kento complained a little too loudly, and got a 'shh' from the librarian. Kento blushed a little from getting in trouble, then sighed.   
* * * * *   
Daller stood next to the Alen look-alike. "Any news on Solar yet?"   
"No, Master... she seems to be in between... she's not sure who to go to..." His voice was low... and had a slight squeak to it. A squeak that was quite annoying!   
"Well, we'll have to make sure she comes to us... won't we?" Daller smiled and walked off, leaving the Alen look-alike standing there doing nothing and staring ahead. 


	8. chapter 7 the bet

The Legend of the Solar Whip

Chapter Seven

Wildfire

Ryo sat on the couch flipping through channels; Rowen was upstairs doing some research on something or other. He stands up and limps into the kitchen, pulling out some cereal and the milk. As he started to pour the milk he suddenly jumped at a loud noise from upstairs. He looks up at the ceiling. 

"Rowen?" He says quietly than walks toward the stairs "Rowen? You ok?" He says this part a bit louder. He starts up the stairs. "Rooween?"

Rowen suddenly ran to the top of the stairs with a smile "Hi..."

"What was that noise?" Ryo tilts his head at him a bit

"Noise? I didn't hear any noise.." Rowen smiles more; Ryo could practically see the fake halo over his head. He snorts and starts up the stairs. Rowen holds his arms out "you don't want to come up here"

  
"Ohh? And why not?" Ryo stops his progress about mid way up the stairs.

"I... amm... I kind of blew my room up.." Rowen says a deep blush coming onto his cheeks and looking down.

"You did WHAT?" Ryo gasps.

"It's not a big deal.. I mean I do it often enough.. it happens every once in a while dad's blown up his lap hundreds of times!"

Ryo just stares at him, gawking, he had been so worried that something had happened to him than curious he had failed to notice all the dark smudges on Rowen's face and cloths. He couldn't believe this he went up the stairs the rest of the way than pushes past the bright red Rowen than goes to his room. His eyes widen the room itself wasn't in to bad of shape but Rowen's desk was full of broken glass and chemicals and had a deep black, burned spot in the middle of the desk. "How did you manage this?"

"To much No2..."Rowen says sheepishly from the door.

"Riight.. Your desk is ruined.."

"No I just have to clean it and repaint it.. We still have paint left front he last time I did it.."

"How often do you do this Rowen?" Ryo turns and stares at him.

"Not too often... amm, aren't we suppose to meet Kento or somebody today?"

"Ohh I didn't notice THAT change of subject.. And no we're not. Sage is training Chessica and Kento and his family went up to the mountains and Cye went with them. Meaning we have no one to meet.."

"Chessica?... that girl has issues.. I don't know how Sage deals with her.."

Ryo laughs "will of course she has issues! Her issue is she has no clue what her past is! I'd have issues than too!"

Rowen tries to glare at him and fails than laughs "yeah I suppose your right.. but that still doesn't give her the right to always be a bitch about everything.. It's not like it's OUR fault.."

"No, but who is she going to take it out on? Not like there's anyone she knows of that she can blame..." Ryo sighs. Than looks back at Rowen "your dad coming home tonight?"

"No... he's really busy.. He won't be home tell.. Will maybe a week I guess..." 

Ryo looks over at him. "A week? Wow.. he sure isn't around a lot.."

Rowen shrugs. "It's always kind of been that way.. that's why mom divorced him.. I guess.. his work always comes first.."

****

Sage stood lean against a wall watching as Chessica hit the punching bag over and over again. She was starting to get better, and develop some muscle. She really was a pretty girl, she had her hair pulled up into a messy bun right now, she was also extremely odd even her name Chessica? Maybe it was foreign... maybe she was wrong maybe that wasn't her name maybe it was something else.. something that sounded like that? No that didn't make any since either.. He sighs standing up straight and going over to her. "Your slacking.. put more strength in it.." He watches her do a few more than nods "alright go to kicks.. and aim for the middle of the bag.."

"the middle? I can barely hit the bottom middle!" Her eyes were wide and had a slight bit of anger to him.

"yes.. but if you don't TRY to aim higher than you'll never GET higher... I didn't say you had to kick it I said aim for it.. don't strain yourself just push...TRY.." Sage's arms crossed.

"This is such bull crap!" She glares at him but none the less starts to kick the bag.

Sage smiles and goes over to where a long sword was mounted on the wall it was nearly a no-Datchi but it was bigger than most swords so he usually used it over the others. He pulls it down and twirls it around a bit than starts going through basic stances and moves.

Chessica turns and watches with fascination he really was good the way he moved the huge sword and so effortlessly. She could never do that... She was such a klutz and not at all flexible.. Sage kept telling her it would come with time but she didn't believe it.. It was just annoying.

***

3 days later

Ryo sat eating his lunch smiling at Cye and Kento who were fighting over an apple.. that had been Cye's.

"AHH come on Cye I'm HUNGRY!" Kento whines at him.

"It's MINE! You can't always eat all MY food! You already ate my cookies! Which I HAD wanted!" Cye growls tugging at the apple. 

"You weren't eating them! You were talking and flirting!" 

"I WANTED TO EAT THEM! Other wise I wouldn't have GOTTEN them!"

"So I'll give you a free meal at my parents RESTRAINT that's ten times worth those cookies!" Kento points out "and this apple!"

"yes I suppose it is... EXCEPT I can already eat there free! Your mother would slit my throat just for SUGGESTING to pay!" Cye yanks the apple away and takes a bit of it.

"So Cye.. I went to your house the other day.. Tina was there.. when were you planning on telling us she's staying at your house?" Sage asks eating an apple.

Cye's eyes widened and he blushes. "Amm will a couple days I suppose..."

"Ahh our little buddy's getting his grove on!" Kento laughs.

"It's not like that! She just stopped by and she's been helping my mom out a lot.. she even brought her dog.. he's really cute.. mom just adores him."

Kento sighs. "Cye.. you are just.. to..-"

  
"Innocent?" Rowen finishes for him. He smiles as Cye's face turns red again. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about.. I mean I'm sure if Tina is the one you'll be with for a while.. I'm sure.. at least she'll be glad your a good boy?" He laughs at that as did everyone else.

Cye on the other hand was less than amused "oh come on! And how far have YOU guys gone with a girl?! How 'Bad' are you?!" At this everyone's face turns red.. everyone's face but Sages. "Will out with it?! How bad are you guys"

"Alright, alright.. you proved your point we're all little good boys." Ryo smiles at him.

"I wouldn't say that.." Sage sips his drink and winks at some girls walking by. The girls giggle and start jabbering together.

Ryo looks at him eyes wide "You?! I knew you were a player but.. THIS?"

Sage smirks and claps Rowen's hand to his "will unlike you guys I'm above you.." he laughs.

Cye throws a fry at him, hitting Sage in the forehead "stop being so cocky.."

"Why should I? I'm talented.. and will you guys just aren't" He shrugs and sips his pop.

Ryo groans "does any one else want to kill him or is that just me?"

  
"I think he's just bluffing." Kento looks at him sharply. "I think he's as good as a boy as we are all.. momma's little boy!"

  
Sage cocks an eyebrow "your wrong.."

  
Rowen leans forward suddenly interested "Ohh yeah? If your such a lady's man.. than you can get any girl you want ne?"

Sage brushes his hair back an looks at Rowen. "Hai I can.."

  
"Wanna bet?"

  
"I will take on any bet you have!" Sage leans in more his visible eye narrowing. The blue haired man would NOT better him.

  
"I bet you can't get that girl that just moved in with you.. what's her name? Chessica?" Rowen smirks as Sage groans.

  
"if I take this bet than you're in on it too! First one to get a kiss with tongue is the winner!" Sage smirks this way he didn't have a time limit as he could CERTAINLY beat Rowen to this.

  
Ryo takes a bite out of the sandwich "what happens to the loser?"

Rowen looks at Sage who looks back. Sage clicks his tongue "housework?"

  
"no housework is to used.. how about slave?" Rowen smiles deviously

  
"Ohh and being a slave isn't used all the time either?" Sage says dully

  
"Yeah but a slave is so much more fun! Than we get to be bossy!" Rowen smiles and takes a bite of his apple "homework of course would not be included as I don't want F's."

  
"So than it's just housework?" sage states like it's a duh.

  
"Among other things" Rowen stands up. "is the bet on or not?"

  
"yeah loser is the winners slave for two weeks?" 

  
Rowen nods "sure thing.. I'll look forward to it. Now I got to go do some research for my English project something about the American revolution"

  
Cye looks up "why does your English teacher make you learn that? Aren't you suppose to learn the language?"

  
"Hai but she thinks to understand the language you must understand where the country stands and how it got there or something.. Later guys" he hurries off smiling determined to win this bet. Sage would NOT win this one.

Ryo looks at Sage "this will be interesting.."

Sage looks at him "Ohh and Why is that?"

  
"because mate you and Rowen are very close and your competing over a woman you don't even like for a price you both very much want it will be interesting what happens" Cye smirks at his cocky friend

  
Kento looks at Sage with stern eyes "you two be careful and don't hurt the girl, she didn't ask for this"

  
Sage snorts "the hell she didn't, her and her snotty attitude that she blows to everyone even though it's all a bluff"

"will maybe she has the bluff up because she's just a scared little girl" Ryo says sarcastically

  
Sage snorts again. "doubtful she's probably just a bitch"

Cye chuckles "such a positive way to look at your new girl friend" Sage groans at this.

  
"Hey Sage.. after you get this kiss.. what are you going to do with this girl? Are you just going to leave her?" Kento stares at his friend if there was one thing his mother had taught him is you do NOT use people and play with there feelings. 

The blond player looks at his bulky friend and shrugs "I dono I'll pass that hurdle when I get there" 

Kento's eyes narrow "will count me out.. I don't want to be part of this. Not only will my mother kill me but I don't agree with toying with one's feelings." He stands up and heads out.

  
Cye's eyes widen "will that was.. I should talk to him" he gets up and follows Kento out.

****

Daller watches as a girl that was slightly bulky runs to her class. She had been talking to Hardrock earlier, he sneers than allows a cruel smirk to come to his lips. Than again if Hardrock got into a relationship... Hardrock had a very large weakness. He laughs and turns his attention to the two odd hair colors of the group. Halo and Strata, they were asking a bet about.. Chess how awfully convent for him. He looks at the man behind him, the Alen look alike Wildfire's weakness. Everyone was taken care of except Torrent but Torrent would fall when his friends did. Everything was perfect and in place now he just need to act. And get his old teammates to cooperate and stay Under him.


	9. Chapter 8 progressing no they really arn...

Thanks to Reviewers: (and thank you all that I didn't respond too)

Kirie144280- Well I have a lot of storys to do.. it takes me a while sorrry about the long time it took

Staci- of course I'm going to finish this I never leave a story forever.. just for a long time.

Anime girl8- I wouldn't say this is sooner.. but hey it's out. And as for Ryo and Sage and the bet.. will you'll just have to wait and find out. ^_~

The Legend Of the Solar Whip

Chapter Eight

By Wildfire

Ryo yawns as he again finds himself on Rowen's couch. He seemed to be here a lot. He smirks Rowen's house didn't have a whole lot to do and still being injured he couldn't do much himself. Rowen's dad would be home tonight, it seemed odd since he had gotten there he had yet to really see anything of Mr. Hashiba. Rowen said he was just really busy, but to never really see his home and his own son? Ryo supposed it wasn't his business to say anything so he kept his mouth shut.

Ryo jumps a bit as he hears the door open and low and behold there was Mr. Hashiba. He smiles warmly at Ryo. "Hello Ryo." He hangs his coat up and takes his shoes off before entering the room. He goes over to where Ryo was lounging and stares down at him.

Ryo stares back before realizing Mr. Hashiba wanted to sits down and he quickly scrambles up, into a sitting position. He mumbles an apology. The man laughs and sits down. "No worries. So.. you like it here?"

Ryo stares at him; conversation was definitely not one of this man's strong suits.  He nods nonetheless though "yeah. It's nice."

"Good good. You and Rowen having fun?"

"Yep.. we talk.. and stuff"

"That's good, good. Having any troubles? I know you're in a hard place." 

Ryo smiles politely, this was so awkward! "Amm I'm ok, you know sore and what not. But that's to be expected.."

"Of course.. don't need to see a doctor right?" The man looks Ryo up and down as if analyzing him.

"No.." Ryo smiles and looks around trying to find anything else to talk about his eyes focus on the TV in front of him. Something there? No it was just commercials. His eyes travel more around the room there was a coffee table in front of him.. nothing there. A coffee table to the right of him; just a lamp there. A coffee table to the left of the couch.. DANG how many coffee tables did these people need? "You have a lot of coffee tables.." he says in an absent minded voice. Inside he rolls his eyes at himself that had to be the lamest thing ever, he probably sounded like an idiot now. 

"Ohh? Oh yeah we do.. when we get working on a project we have paper work everywhere and the more table space the better.." The man tries to do a polite laugh.

Well that just confirmed it.. he did sound like an idiot! "So, um, you have any projects on now?"

"No.. no I'm free for a week just finished up one on the evolution of a butterfly. They're fascinating creatures you know!"

"yeah.. they go from slug to the butterfly.. right?" Ryo groans inwardly will that was a DUH answer.

"Yes, yes they are. I'm sure you'll study them in one of your classes. They're a remarkable bug." He smiles.

Ryo was tempted to tell him they studied bugs like Butterflies back in second grade but decided that would probably just make him seem more like an idiot since he was the one that had actually ASKED in the first place. "They're pretty too" Ok so he didn't just sound like in an idiot he was an idiot, yep it was official Alen had to have done something to his brain because he was definitely an idiot now.

The man laughs and nods "that they are.. It's something a scientist can often miss, as we're so absorbed into the facts we forget to just look at it. The world is an amazing place and I think I miss much of it because I analyze it. I fear my son does too." He smiles with a light laugh.

Ryo smirks remembering the times them and the other guys were looking at something like a sunset and Rowen would start explaining how the colors happen. That was definitely one way to ruin the 'glory' of it. He nods "yeah he does.. But it's something that helps us see a different way at looking at something. Looking at something for beauty is great but to never understand how something works is stupidity." He smiles "I'm glad I have your son as a friend or I'd never understand half the things I do now."

The man laughs and nods "Hashiba's are good for that I only hope he does something with it." He smiles again and ruffles Ryo's hair gently. "Speaking of my boy where is he?"  
  


"Upstairs… doing something I probably don't want to know about." 

The man nods and smiles again "will I suppose your hungry?" he starts shuffling through some papers on the coffee table in front of him. "Let's see I'm sure I have some take out food here somewhere. Ah here it is. It's for American Pizza you like that stuff?"  
  
Ryo nod "Hai it's fine, I'll eat pretty much anything."

"Dad?" Rowen stood on the stairs "I didn't think you would be home so early.."  
  


"Neither did I. I was about to order a pizza what do you want?"

"Am how about a supreme?"  
  


Mr. Hashiba looks at Ryo "that ok with you?"

"Can we count out peppers?" Ryo smiles as the other two nod. As Mr. Hashiba goes to order Rowen takes his set next to Ryo. 

"What did you guys talk about?"

"You, and food.." Ryo smirks at his friends' now curious face.

"What about me?"

"Oh you know the normal, he studies to much and needs to get a girl friend," Ryo teases, giving Rowen an innocent look.

"Lire. I know that's not true simply because my dad studies as much as I do and he also doesn't have a girl" Rowen sticks his tongue out at Ryo.

"Ohh? I didn't know you want that way Rowen.."

Rowen just glares at his friend. "Jerk…"

"Just because I can come up with better come backs than you do, does Not make me a jerk. It makes me witty and smart."

Rowen does a mock laugh "Ohh Ryo I didn't know you could tell jokes… well besides, of course, why did the Chicken cross the road"

"I know many jokes! You just aren't mature enough for me to tell them to you yet… Maybe when you're older I'll tell you things you've never imagined about."

"Ohh you going to show me too?" Rowen teases.  
  


Ryo huffs "You are Not ready for that.. Sage has barely gotten to that level…"

Rowen laughs "Didn't want THAT image!"

Ryo shrugs and slowly gets up and limps into the kitchen to get another glass of water. 

Rowen follows him. "So… Sage is still being driven nuts by that girl right? Should we do something to help?"  
  


"What could we do to help.. I mean they have to work these thing out on their own. Plus as long as they don't get along the better my chances are to win that stupid bet."

"He's really miserable.. He hates having her there."

"Well he's going to have to get over that. She seems like a decent girl.. In all honesty they are a lot alike. Stubborn good looking and way to sure of them self's."

Rowen nodes "Yeah, you think they will work it out?" he grabs a plum from the counter, briefly washing it before eating it.

"I'm sure they will eventually they'd have to they live together now.." Ryo sips his water with a smirk. "if they don't that I suppose we'll be attending a funeral soon."

Rowen chuckles "I dono you think they'll get together.. you know like date?"

Ryo chuckles and shakes his head "no.. I seriously doubt that.. They're too much alike they'd kill each other. It's not good to have your significant other be exactly like you."

***

Sage sat in his room studying, he could hear Chessica and his mom down sitars laughing. He didn't understand how his mom could stand that girl she was so conceited! He didn't know what to do aboutt this kissing junk, he had tried to be nice to her, it just never worked! She was so arogent! Sage rolls onto his back staring at his book blankly he wondered what his friends were doing Ryo and Rowen were probably having a blast right now. He looks at his clock and is surpised to see it was almost seven, where had the time gone?

He gets up and heads downstairs and sees his mom smile at him the table had been set the two girls were talking as they put the food on the table.

"Ahh Sage I was just about to go and get you, dinner's ready."

He nods and looks at Chessica she smirks and sits down in what USED to be his seat… what a bitch. 

Sage sits down in the seat opposite of her. "Thank you mother." He says but never lets his eyes leave Chessica giving her a challanging look.

"Oh this meal isn't all to me Chessica here helped quite a bit"

"Ohh, that's nice" he nods curtly at her.

"Sage would you go get your father and Grandfather from the dojo, while I get your sister?"

"Of course mother." He gets up and leaves giving Chessica and a challanging look again before he leaves. He growls at himself thinking this was deffently NOT the way to get the girl to like him.

***

The Alan look a like stood in front of Rowen's apartment as he licked a knife. The man wasn't really a man so he had no feelings he felt no pain. He was in all aspects just a walking body with no soul. He did as he was comanded to do and that was about it. He smiles around the knife as he looks up at the building. Inside there laid his pray, his first kill. He had been told not to kill him right away though that he needed to play with him first. This look he had was suppose to scare the boy, if he could have he would have wondered why.

He smiles as he sees a pizza boy park his car and get out. Well no one said the boy had to be his FIRST kill. He starts toward the boy a nasty smile on his face.

***

Ryo sat on the couch as the door bell rang, it was about TIME the pizza was over twenty minutes late. He slowly got up but Rowen beat him too it. 

The man at the door had his head down as he mumbles the amount and hands the pizza over. Rowen hands the pizza to Ryo as he hands the ammount to the man. As Rowen turns around shutting the door the man looks up and smiles at Ryo.

Ryo gasps and drops the pizza, Alan?


	10. Chapter 9

The Legend of the Solar whip

Chapter Nine

By Wildfire

Ryo laid on Rowen's bed, he knew he has seen Alan delivering the pizza but he hadn't told any one. Alan was dead, very very dead. So how could he have seen him?

"Ryo?" Rowen enters the room "how are you feeling? We still have pizza, or dad says he can take you to the doctors if you want."

"No it's ok, but thanks anyway."

Rowen sits on the bed next to him. "What happened by the way?"

"I dono" he lied "I just don't know"

Rowen nods "Are you ok?' He runs a gentle hand through Ryo's dark locks.

Ryo leans slightly into the touch "Yeah I'm fine"

"None of this should have ever happened to you… we should have been there. I'm so sorry we weren't there" Rowen lays down beside him, pulling him against him

"It's not your fault."

"We shunned you… for no reason'

Ryo laughs "you had reason, I was a jerk to you"

"We should have known something was up, that you would never do that"

"Stop with the guilt trips Rowen, it wasn't your fault"

"It wasn't yours either. You don't think it's your fault, do you Ryo?"

Ryo stiffens slightly. "I should have told you.. Or stayed away-"

"RYO! No, this is one thing you can not blame yourself for! Not now or ever!" He snuggles into him. "I'm sorry, why don't we go get you something to eat? It might make you feel better"

"I'm really not that hungry Rowen, maybe later."

Rowen sighs "Alright, I called Sage he's going to come over and see you, make sure your ok"

"Just Sage?"

"Yeah I couldn't get a hold of Kento or Cye but I left a Message'

Ryo groans "Danm it Rowen do you have to tell everyone about my downfalls?"

A chuckle left Rowen's lips "Yes, yes I do"

"ROWEN! Your blond American friend is here!"

Rowen and Ryo both grimaced at the American part.

"I better go get him before he kills my dad." He pulls away from Ryo and heads downstairs. Ryo could hear them talking, Sage was trying to explain to Mr. Hashiba that he was not an American. Rowen was trying to get Sage upstairs.

Ryo sighs and sits up looking around the room. Was it Alan he saw? Maybe it was just trauma. He sighs and heads for the bathroom he starts up the shower and strips down stepping under the hot spray.

"Useless boy…'

Ryo's eyes jerk open and he looks around "Hello?"

"Need to be taught a lesson"

Ryo whirls around "Who's there? Come out" His heart was thumping loudly in his chest. He knew the voice, but it couldn't be.

He felt a hand run along his back and he whirls around again. No one was there. Hands were on his waist, he yanks away pressing his back to the shower wall. "Leave me alone.. Please just leave me alone"

He was staring straight ahead, no one was there and yet as soon as he closed his eyes there were hands touching him. This was just his imagination, it was just his imagination. There wasn't hands touching him there wasn't anyone in the room with him. No one was there. Just him, he was alone.

"You deserve this boy, I deserve your body"

Ryo's eyes slam open again, no one was there. He shut the water off and quickly got out of the shower. He was going insane, he has to be. He was insane.

"But what if your not" arms wrapped around his waist

Ryo slammed his eyes shut again. "Your not here, your dead, your dead"

A chuckle sounded behind him. "I'm here and I'm alive, and your alive, but not for long"

"How?"

"I want to kill you" Nails dug into Ryo's stomach a tongue slid along his neck. "But we'll play first. And I'm planning on having lots of fun"

"Ryo? You ok in there?"

The hands stilled on Ryo's "Say yes" it whispers into his ear.

Ryo stood there frozen, he didn't want to die..

"Ryo?" the door handle rattles "Open the door Ryo"

He stares at the door, he hadn't locked the door. He knew he didn't.

"Say your fine Ryo" The hands move to his hips "now, or I'll kill them too"

Ryo's eyes harden at that "No!" He whirls around and kicks at the air. No one was there, he jumps at the bathroom door was suddenly kicked in. Sage stood there, eyes widen to see Ryo standing there, naked.

Ryo normally would have blushed but at the moment he didn't care, he crumbles. Sage caught him. "Ryo?"

"He's not dead… he's here. He's going to kill me.."

"Who, Ryo what are you talking about?" Sage put a towel over him.

"Alan.. He's still alive"

"No Ryo, Alan is dead" he runs a hand over the scratch marks on Ryo's stomach "Ryo did you do this?"

"No Alan did.. He's alive"

"Ryo…"

"I'm not insane Sage! He's alive!"

Sage sighs and nods "alright Ryo… how did he come back to life than?"

"I DONO! But he's different now, I never saw him, I just felt him and heard him."

"You talking about a ghost Ryo?"

Ryo freezes. Was that what it was? A ghost? "Maybe.."

"Ryo, ghosts don't exists they're something made up to make people feel better when their loved ones dies or to scare people. When people die, they die. They don't come back"

"Tell that to Talpa, or even us!" Ryo sits up moving away from Sage.

"That's different Ryo, we're mystical."

"What if he is too?"

"No Ryo.. He was just a normal evil man. He can't come back to life. He can't. It was just your imagination" Sage pulls him close again. "No one is going to hurt you."

Ryo clung to him, crying.

Sage closes his eyes. His leader was broken. And possibly going insane.. He held tightly to Ryo, this just couldn't be happening. He rocks him gently. "We'll figure this out Ryo, what ever it is that's happening" He gently picked Ryo up taking him back to Rowen's room, where Rowen was waiting.

"He ok?" Rowen had heard most of it but let Sage handle it. Sage was better at this junk. Though not by much.

"I dono, maybe we should call Cye or Kento. He thinks Alan is haunting him."

"Ghosts are just a figment-"

"Rowen I know what a ghost is. It doesn't stop the fact that Ryo's seeing them"

"I didn't see him" he mumbles into Sage's shoulder "I felt and heard him, I'm not insane"

"We're not saying that Ryo, we're just worried about you."

"I don't need your pity"

Sage lays him down on the bed "I don't think we could pity you Ryo.. You'd kill us" He covers him up.

Ryo nods "Danm right…" he yawns "one of you stay?"

Rowen nods "we'll be here, promise."

Ryo nods curling up onto his side, eyes closing.

The room stays silent for a while before Sage sighs and sits at Rowen's desk "what are we going to do?" He whispers.

"I dono, I'm going to go try the guys again, you wait here" Rowen silently leaves the room. Sage moves over to the bed sitting down on it. Staring down at Ryo. How could everything change so quickly?

Kento stood next to Cye staring down at Ryo. "So.. Should we send him to doctor?"

"He'd hate us for it" Sage was still seated in the desk chair leaning on his knees. "He'd never forgive us"

"He's still sure he's not insane" Rowen sighs leaning against the wall.

Cye's head jerks up "Who says he is?" he hiss's out. "If this was reversed and it was me or you. Do you really think Ryo wouldn't believe you? You think he'd sit here debating if we should send us to a doctor? I think he'd believe us, he'd be skeptical but he'd try an believe. I think we should give him the same respect!"

Kento nods and moves to Ryo's bed, kneeling down so he was level with Ryo. "I'll believe you"

Ryo kept sleeping.

Kento stood up "alright so now we need to figure out how to fight a ghost!"

"What about an exorcism?" Cye offers

Sage and Rowen groan.

"Those don't work, and even if it did it would probably do more bad than good." Rowen stands "I doubt we're dealing with an actual ghost, first we need to figure out what it is we're dealing with."

"You still don't believe him!" Kento accused.

"Kento he's been through a lot. These things are relatively common after large trauma's"

"This is RYO we're talking about! He defeated Talpa, TWICE plus countless other evil things! If he was really this prone to craziness don't you think he would have gone insane LONG ago."

"That could be contributing to it now. And if he mentions it to anyone else they'll really think he's insane."

"Why would he bring that up? He knows better!"

"He's not exactly himself"

"Stop talking about him like he's already in a straight jacket!"

"I'm not, it's just-"

Ryo laid with his eyes closed listening to them debate if he was insane or not. He was starting to wonder the same thing. They had brought up a lot of good points.


End file.
